WEST Devon and Torridge MP John Burnett has thrown his weight behind the campaign to install a stained glass ?peace window? at a village school.
The window, proposed for Milton Abbot Primary School, is at the centre of a row after West Devon planners said it could not be installed.
They claimed it would be detrimental to the character of the grade II listed school, founded by the Duke of Bedford in 1829.
But Mr Burnett, who made a fact-finding visit to the school on Monday, said the window had ?considerable artistic merit? and was created to a ?very high standard of workmanship?.
The window, made by a 93-year-old Benedectine monk, is intended for one of the school?s hall windows.
Mr Burnett said: ?I understand that the borough council has to be guided by government policy and there?s no escape from that.
?Changes have been made to the school in recent years and there are additions which could be described as completely out of keeping and of very little artistic merit.
?We don?t live in a cocoon or a time warp and although I can see the borough council?s argument, the window would look very nice out there and I really do applaud the motives for it.?
Mr Burnett said he would contact the chairman of English Heritage about the window and hoped he would be ?very persuasive? to the borough council, giving councillors the opportunity to depart from government guidelines.
?The school is a living, learning environment and is not, and should never be, artificially constrained. Time does not stand still and we should be able to move forward,? said Mr Burnett.
But Cllr Roger Mathew, chairman of the borough?s planning committee said he took ?slight exception? to Mr Burnett trying to put ?political pressure? on a planning committee which had a remit to act within the law.
Cllr Mathew said: ?The issue is whether this proposed development conserves or enhances the character of a listed building. It is the duty of the local planning authority not to allow anything which would detract from it.
?I told my committee very clearly if they were of the honest opinion that this development conserved, enhanced or at the very least did no damage to the character of the building, they could allow it.?
Cllr Mathew said he failed to see how the ?quaint notion? of inserting a ?rather garish? circular section in the square perpendicular window in the front of a ?fine Victorian building? could possibly enhance it.
He felt the correct way forward was for the school was to appeal against the decision.
Peter Jones, headteacher at the 120-pupil school, said the section of window which the peace panel would replace was a non-original 1950s-style metal casement, which could not be opened because it did not shut properly.
He said the peace window, depicting the universe with a rising sun, moon and stars and a flame representing the spiritual essence of life, had received tremendous support at the school and in the community.
Mr Jones said: ?Clearly they feel we are trying to do something worthwhile, something that means something to people.?
He said the school would either submit a new, revised planning application or appeal against last year?s decision. Advice was still being sought on the issue.
Mr Jones said the school hall was the ?ideal? location for the window, enabling the children to see it when they were assembled.
?We also like the idea that as you drive down from Endsleigh you can see it. I?ve talked to all the neighbours round here and they all love it,? said Mr Jones.
The decision to refuse the window?s installation sparked angry letters to the Times.
Milton Abbot?s borough councillor, Dilwyn Hughes, wrote that he was ?disgusted? by the refusal and would do all he could to overturn the decision.
The peace window will cost £4,000, plus installation costs. Mr Jones said fundraising for the window was going very well and already more than half the target amount had been raised.
?We?ve displayed the window three days in Tavistock Pannier Market and each day we raised well over £100, which was superb.
?Everyone who?s come across it has been fully supportive ? people were coming in specially to look at the window,? said Mr Jones, who thanked the market for its support and everyone who had donated to the project so far.
Other fundraising initiatives are a ?pennies for peace? collection at the school, a raffle of a specially commissioned Raku swan and a long-distance sponsored cycle ride.
The window will be on show at Tavistock Pannier Market this Saturday and on Saturday, January 18.