The decision by Basingstoke and Deane borough council, which has sparked opposition from local residents and heritage groups, would see Ashe Park House near Basingstoke replaced with a new two-storey home in the Queen Anne style.Smallwoods building will feature stone dressings, a central pediment set against a tall hipped roof with dormer windows sash windows and a projecting timber cornice, reflecting local architectural heritage.The owners will also knock down four outbuildings and build a swimming pool linked to the main house, as well as making landscaping changes, including planting an orchard. Arts and Crafts cottages on the estate will be retained.AdvertisementThe decision sparked criticism from local residents and SAVE Britains Heritage over the loss of the house. The heritage body has also raised environmental concerns.Jane Austen visited Ashe Park House from her home in nearby Steventon in the 1790s. The main house was rebuilt between the 1860s and 1890s, several decades after Austens death in 1817. SAVE Britains Heritage said the 1860s building itself had architectural merit.The heritage group said the demolition would result in the erosion of the areas historic richness and distinctiveness. The group also objected on environmental grounds, saying it was more sustainable for the building to be refurbished, rather than redeveloped.Several neighbours also lodged objections, echoing sustainability concerns and claiming that the house had been kept to a high standard until the current owners bought it, at which point it had begun to fall into disrepair.However, Smallwood and owners Shuk Ting Sharon Leung and Gillian Sin Hang Ho, who bought Ashe Park House in 2022, disputed this.AdvertisementSmallwood said changes over the centuries had altered the appearance and building fabric of the main house as well as the outbuildings on site, resulting in a piecemeal, incoherent appearance.Historic England last year gave the building immunity from listing because the estate had been heavily and repeatedly altered, diminishing any potential claim to architectural interest.The government's heritage watchdog said that the current house is not the building that Austen wrote about and visited and said: There is no evidence that this earlier building is embedded in the current house of 1865, built nearly 50 years after her death nor that it had any direct influence on her literary output.Over the late 19th and 20th centuries, more significant structural and cosmetic changes followed, both to the main house and outbuildings. When the house was sold in the 1930s, a sales brochure showcased a Tudorbethan interior refurbishment. Two major house fires took place in the 1930s and 1960s, requiring more repair work.Changes to the outbuildings included the conversion of one as a bottling plant as part of a failed attempt at commercially extracting mineral water in the 1970s.The estate fell into dereliction in the 1980s before being revived in the 1990s. More changes followed, with work continuing into the 21st century. Recently, the house has been somewhat neglected, with evidence of water ingress.Recommending the application for approval, Basingstoke and Deane Council planning officers said that the replacement building is considered to be of a high architectural standard and thus suitable for the built and natural context.The owners said in response that they had not allowed the estate to deteriorate in any way, and that the new house would be designed to modern [] regulations and incorporating sustainable technologies, thereby achieving a significantly more energy efficient building with a long-term sustainable future.A timeline for completion is unknown. Source:SmallwoodSmallwood's proposals for a replacement Ashe Park House