who claimed he had "overridden'' his technical officers in a planning matter.

Acting Shadow Environment Minister Erwin Adderley, who for 22 years was a Director of Planning, slammed the Minister for intervening in the case of a house being built for Transport Minister Dr. Ewart Brown.

He said Mr. Hodgson had substituted his knowledge for that of trained civil servants because he thought he knew better when planning officers had ordered work stop on the Smith's site.

The Minister allowed Arthur Pitcher MP's construction firm to carry on building the AP Owen Road house, after visiting the site himself.

"The planning department, for good reason, stopped the project, the Minister has allowed that to proceed forward. He has overridden officers without any explanation or justification for his actions -- that has to be wrong,'' he said.

"The Minister is claiming to have more technical knowledge than his officers.

"His judgment that officers in an area of technical expertise, he is saying they are not up to speed as he is. This would be his area if we were talking about law.'' Yesterday, after meetings with architects and planners, some work was allowed to proceed on the site, with further information required before the full green light is given.

Mr. Hodgson became involved in the controversy last week after planning officials visited the site and halted work. They were concerned about non-traditional building materials being used without permission.

But after their visit, Mr. Hodgson went to the site and gave permission for construction to continue. Meanwhile, meetings took place on Monday between planners and architects, in a bid to resolve the problems.

A list of other irregularities also came to light, not least the demolition of the existing property without permission.

Last night, Mr. Adderley said the Minister, if he had any doubts about the project, should have called in another expert, either from within the department or outside, to give an opinion.

He added that it seemed as though there was no explanation or justification for what the Minister had done.

Acting Director of Planning Rudolph Hollis, who originally said the stop work order was in place, last night declined to comment on whether the situation had been resolved.

It is understood a letter was sent to architects, The Studio, following a meeting on Monday, which allowed work to proceed on the main house but asked for revised drawings and an engineer's report before the rest of the project could continue.

In addition, some of the unauthorised work -- which includes a basement, garage and maid's quarters -- may have to go before the Development Applications Board for permission.