HAMPSHIRE campaigners have welcomed news that the Sutton Scotney estate has been sold to Irish horse breeders.

The Trust of the Magnier Family have purchased the estate of 23 houses and 4,200 acres of woods and farmland in the Micheldever area.

The sale would appear to lift the threat of a Micheldever New Town which has been proposed for the area since 1990.

The sale by Zurich Insurance, for an undisclosed but multi-million pound sum, was revealed at the annual general meeting last night of The Dever Society which was formed to fight the plans for a 5,000-home new Town around Micheldever Station. The society met at the Wonston Arms in Wonston.

In a statement, society chairman Douglas Paterson,a tenant farmer on the estate , said: "We are optimistic about the new owners for a number of reasons. They are investing for the long term and have a genuine interest in this holding as an agricultural estate, so they are not overtly here as developers.

"They have a good reputation from the stewardship of their estates in Ireland and have already taken the opportunity to meet us and learn more about the community they are buying into.

"We must be realistic about the fact that pressures for development will never go away but there is now a good chance that a more sensitive attitude will be taken to this stretch of countryside and to the communities which value it so much.

"We have no indication that the family would intend to use the estate for race horse breeding; this is primarily a long-term investment in agricultural land. But if the beautiful Coolmore Estate is anything to go by, the new owners are here to enhance rather than spoil the countryside."

Mr Paterson paid tribute to the work of Winchester City Council: "Of particular importance in the many battles we have faced since 1990 has been the Winchester City Council strategic planning team, led by Steve Opacic, which over and over again mustered irrefutable planning arguments to see off Zurich’s many attempts to gain permission for the New Town."