A VICTORIOUS resident has slammed New Forest Council after a bungled enforcement action which is set to cost local taxpayers thousands of pounds.

Government inspector Paul Garnham has quashed a planning notice made over alleged storage of business equipment at a home near Ringwood - and awarded its owner £5,000 costs after the council failed to provide cogent evidence to back up its case.

Stephen George, who has been battling the authority since a neighbour made a complaint about the property last summer, says the action was a waste of time which should never have been brought in the first place.

"It is very worrying that the district council would go ahead with something like this on the flimsiest of evidence," he said.

"And if it can happen to me, it could happen to someone else. It has been a real headache for me, and now the taxpayer is losing out - all over something which was completely unnecessary."

The council issued a notice against Mr George, 37, in September, claiming there had been a breach of planning control at his home, Blue Hayes in Woolmer Lane, Blashford.

He is a partner in a business called Eagle Plant Hire, and officers argued he was using the site to store plant and machinery without permission - and ordered him to get rid of it.

The council relied heavily on evidence provided by neighbours Michael Brooks - vice-chairman of Ellingham, Harbridge and Ibsley Parish Council - and Edward Sansom, but when the case went to an appeal hearing, it was found it centred around just two trailer-mounted items of equipment.

In his verdict, Mr Garnham said: "The storage of these items has not significantly affected the character or appearance of the site, and there is no evidence to support the council's depiction of 'constant comings and goings', nor that business clients visit the site."

And in ordering the council to pay Mr George's appeal costs, he added: "I consider the council relied too heavily on the evidence of interested persons, much of which was insubstantial or peripheral to the allegation as framed."

New Forest spokesman Dave Atwill said: "We were disappointed with the inspector's findings. We are considering our position, and taking further legal advice."