A MEON Valley man has been left furious after a meadow was developed on an industrial scale – without any planning permission.

Richard Curran, who lives next to the field in Alma Lane, Upham, compared the finished product to "Blackpool Illuminations".

He believes the developer Emma Evans has broken several planning rules after felling mature trees, removing hedgerows and installing bright lights.

Now he is hoping Winchester City Council's planning department will take action.

"This first came to light back in August, there were dozens of diggers, dumpers and lorries arriving at the meadow," said Mr Curran, who works for Network Rail as a senior electrical control room operator.

"There's now a 92ft barn and a 60m by 30m manege. The lights, well, it's like Blackpool Illuminations. The amount of lorries I've seen is astronomical – this really is an industrial-scale operation.

"I had some engagement with the parish council and the city council planning portal because I could see that mature trees had been felled and hedgerows had been completely removed. Something significant was happening.

"I had a letter back from the planning department to say that the development had been placed on a priority watch list, and that was left there.

"Since then, I think every environmental and ecological planning rule has been broken. Aside from the destruction, the clay wetland area was drained into a local brook at the bottom of the field.

"When I built my house, I took down an old building and went through the whole process of surveys. These neighbours have just ploughed on with it.

"It's a joke, everything about it is a slap in the face of law-abiding people. The whole area has been changed because of the lack of enforcement. "They probably can't even use the new paddocks due to it being too wet."

Mr Curran is also concerned that the lights from the development, which are "left on 24/7", will cause barn owls to lose the dark spaces in which they reside.

Emma Evans has submitted a planning application to Winchester City Council. A decision is yet to be made.

Although the form says that Ms Evans is from Bishop's Waltham, Mr Curran believes she is in fact from Gosport.

Planning officers at the city council could well approve the development retrospectively.

Mr Curran added: "That's the way to do it these days and everyone knows it, even though it's completely immoral, because this would never be approved if the plans were submitted beforehand."

A Winchester City Council spokesperson told the Chronicle: "The application for “replacement stables, construction of barn, and exercise/training area” for private use is still being assessed by the council. The application will be evaluated against the relevant planning policies of the Winchester District Local Plan and other planning considerations."