A CONTROVERSIAL scheme to build a three-storey, luxury, eco-friendly home in the Hampshire countryside has got the green light.

A Government planning inspector overruled Test Valley councillors’ decision to reject the scheme in January this year.

Residents living near the site at Tote Hill, on the Lockerley-Sherfield English parish boundary, formed an action group in a bid to block the project submitted by Winchester-based architects Adam Architecture on behalf of the applicant Anthony Gott.

Councillors threw out the scheme on the grounds that it would be too bulky and out of character with the area.

But inspector Malcolm Rivett believes Adam Architecture’s design will benefit the neighbourhood.

The proposed development includes building the property into a hillside at Little Fosters and covering the roof with shingles made from recycled tyre rubber and seeded with grass.

It’s planned to use rubber tyres filled with compacted earth to build the foundations and the walls will be built from reclaimed bricks.

Mr Rivett says in his report that the quality of architecture in the proposed development has “the potential to raise the standard of design” in the area.

“The scheme could be exemplar for sustainable development elsewhere, including smaller scale individual properties and more mainstream multiple dwelling schemes,” said Mr Rivett