WARM tributes have been paid to a Hampshire planner who in recent years was best-known for his model of Victorian Winchester.

Roger Brown, who was in his 90s, was chief planning officer at the county council in the 1970s.

He oversaw developing plans which today still shape and influence how the county evolves.

On retirement in the 1980s Mr Brown made a giant model of 1870 Winchester which has been displayed across the city, most recently in the Great Hall. The model still awaits a permanent home.

John Pilkington, the Winchester traveller and writer, worked for him in the planning department.

He said: “Behind the no-nonsense face was a warm and extremely generous man. I remember him comforting me after I spotted a rather bad mistake on a map that I had sent off for printing. A thousand copies had to be shredded. ‘Don’t worry,’ he said. ‘Worse things happened in the war.’”

Mr Pilkington added: “In Winchester many of us know him for the fabulous model of the city which he created after his retirement. Typically he attended to every detail. At one point I remember him begging his male friends and colleagues to save the clear plastic collar stiffeners that come with new shirts so he could use them for windows!”

Merrick Denton-Thompson, chairman of the Landscape Institute policy committee, worked for Mr Brown in the 1970s as county landscape architect.

He said Mr Brown was quick to spot the importance of the new environmental policies. “Roger recognised the need to influence national policy if he was to achieve the county council’s objectives.

“As a direct result of his approach a wide range of Hampshire initiatives ended up by influencing national policy on subjects like Hampshire's Countryside Heritage, Biodiversity Action Planning, School Grounds Policy, Historic Environment, Landscape Character Assessment and Agri-Environment Schemes.”

Mr Brown was also an important supporter of the Hampshire Gardens Trust which aims to preserve great parks and gardens.

Mr Denton-Thompson added: “Roger was a gentleman, kind and generous with a quiet sense of humour. He was an example of humanity at its very best and those who knew him will miss him enormously but will never forget him or what he achieved in Hampshire.”

Gilly Drummond, president of The Association of Gardens Trusts, said: “He was an outstanding contributor to the County of Hampshire. As Chief Planning Officer for Hampshire at a time in the early 1980s when the County was beginning to overheat badly in development terms, Roger commissioned surveys of the county’s areas of high value, among them historic parks and gardens.

“Parks and gardens were under threat from development, from lack of money for maintenance, parks designed as a whole in separate ownerships and often a lack of understanding by new owners of their history of design and development.

“The county grasped this nettle. A conference was held at Avington Park in 1984 which kick started the Hampshire Gardens Trust. This became the blueprint for a gardens trust in every county in England, affiliated gardens trusts in Wales, one in London.

“Without the strong support of the county council and Roger’s genius as an enabler, this vision of voluntary public involvement and support for parks and gardens would never have got off the ground.

“Despite being the blissfully ignorant owner of a small Capability Brown garden at Cadland, I became the first chairman of the trust, having to be wound up and pointed in the right direction like a clockwork mouse by Roger and his team. We fought some interesting battles together and like everyone who Roger worked with, I enjoyed every moment of his company and his expertise so generously shared.

“Artistic, with a kind and generous spirit, a talent for getting the best out of people, supportive and conscientious, delightful and unusual, Roger was the lynch pin of the Hampshire Gardens Trust even in retirement.

“He had both vision for the environment of Hampshire and gave his time and skills to help people to share it. We will not see his kind again. It is hoped that his superb model of Winchester will find a permanent place in the city as a fitting memorial to his life and work.”