CAMPAIGNERS have lost their battle to persuade Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott to rule whether a new housing development should go ahead.

Hundreds of people living close to the fields on the edge of the River Test Estuary on the north-eastern side of Totton have lodged objections to homes being built at Testwood House Farm.

But New Forest District Council accepted in January that the land should come under consideration for development in its local plan and that was confirmed more recently.

And when a planning application for 70 new homes was submitted, attempts were made to take the matter out of the district's hands.

New Forest East Constituency Labour Party chairman Peter Sopowski wrote to the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions asking Mr Prescott (above), as secretary of state, to call the issue in.

But Mr Sopowski (below) revealed this week that the matter is being referred back to the district council.

A letter to him from the Government Office for the South-East pointed out: "In the first instance the control of local development rests with local planning authorities and it is for them to decide in the light of their local knowledge what action would be most appropriate in any particular situation.

"The Deputy Prime Minister is reluctant to intervene in the way that authorities carry out their duties in relation to development control and normally he would not consider doing so unless issues of national or local importance are involved."

Mr Sopowski said the district's two main parties had created the difficult situation for themselves, with the Liberal Democrat majority accepting that the land could be designated for development and then, after the local elections, the Conservative majority accepting that situation.

Converted for the new archive on 25 January 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.