Petersfield doesn’t really have a skyline, but it lost one of its most prominent features 14 months ago when a 33-metre chimney was brought down to earth.

The edifice at Whitman Laboratories which towered over the landmark and nearby A3 was brought down in sections with manufacturing not being affected at the Bedford Road site.

Yet the chimney and its parent Estee Lauder factory – which has been one of the town’s biggest employers for the last five decades – might not have existed in its current form, or at all, if a local watchdog had its way.

Arthur Gill, chairman of the Petersfield Society, told guests at the group’s annual general meeting in 1985 that the building would “do little for unemployment figures”.

But he went even further with the group’s criticism, calling the decision to build the factory on the edge of Petersfield “one of the biggest errors in county planning history”.

He said: “I think the members (of the planning committee) that had been in favour are also beginning to feel the factory is rather bigger than they thought.

“This building is a large warehouse, with automated handling, and it will do little for unemployment figures.”

Nearly half a century on, the constant shuffle of employee minibuses up and down the A3 suggests Mr Gill was incorrect in his assumption.

But the group did have some minor success in their bid to “preserve the character of Petersfield and the surrounding countryside”.

They succeeded in persuading Hampshire County Council not to erect illuminated bollards while some of the greenery around the entrance can be partly attributed to their input.

Mr Gill added: “We were anxious to reduce the urbanisation of this area and have recently approved the tree planting scheme to replace those felled during the road widening.”