Accusations flew this week as Winchester planners debated what to do with the site of a 17th century cottage that was reduced to rubble earlier this year.

Plans to rebuild the Old Forge, in Heathen Street, Durley, near Bishop's Waltham, were eventually given the go-ahead by Winchester City Council planners on Wednesday.

But English Heritage, who refused to list the building, were labelled "villains" during the lively debate, and the applicant, Andy Doswell, was accused of being arrogant.

In April this year permission was granted to build an extension to the thatched cottage, which once appeared in a village calendar.

But as work was in progress during the summer, the whole cottage fell down. The owners claimed the fabric of the building was not strong enough and it had to be demolished for safety reasons.

The application approved this week was to rebuild the cottage exactly as it would have looked with the extension in place, retaining the quaint appearance of the building.

But some members of the planning committee were angered by the new plans.

Georgina Busher said: "This was obviously their intention from the start and I don't think we should be party to it."

She said the Doswells had had the building knocked down "in order to get their own way" and added: "That was arrogance and nothing on the face of the earth is going to make me support what they do.

"If they want to put up this horrible pastiche, let them fight it at appeal."

Cecily Sutton expressed concern that more and more developers were carrying out work before seeking "retrospective permission".

And Richard Knasel, who represents Durley on the city council, blamed English Heritage for not making more efforts to preserve the building.

"I don't necessarily see the applicant so much a villain as English Heritage," he said. "If the cottage had been listed we wouldn't be facing this. It's given the developers the opportunity to stick their noses up at this committee and demolish the cottage."

Ian Tait, Tory planning committee member, provoked further anger by accusing some planners of being "vindictive".

He said: "Some councillors here want to oppose this for the sake of opposing it and that's not the purpose of this committee. I think we have to be careful that we don't use this as a forum to slate the applicant."

Eventually permission was given for the Doswells to reconstruct the cottage, provided the plans stay as close as possible to the original ones.

Durley residents, who have said they would rather have open land than a replacement building, will be disappointed at the decision.

Seventeen letters of objection were received by the city council and over 60 residents attended a village meeting about the site.

Officers said they will carefully monitor building work to ensure the conditions are met.