Farmer Hubert East has won £1,000 compensation after being bombarded with stray golf balls writes Paul Warner.

He has been fighting for four years to have the 14th and 15th greens at Kirtlington Golf Club moved because of balls landing on his fields and bungalow.

In that time, he reckons to have picked up more than 1,300 balls from his land.

Mr East, of Corner Farm, Kirtlington, argued that Cherwell District Council was to blame for giving the club permission for the greens and complained to the Local Government Ombudsman. Now the Ombudsman has ordered the council to pay him £1,000.

Mr East said: "I complained to the Ombudsman because I felt my feelings were not taken into consideration when planning permission was given."

Last Christmas, the council took enforcement action to have the two offending greens moved, but lost when the golf club appealed to Environment Secretary John Prescott.

The dispute began after the golf club was granted permission to build the course in 1995.

The council argued that plans submitted by the club did not show Mr East's bungalow and that the two greens had been built in the wrong place. Grahame Handley, Cherwell's chief executive, said: "Applicants should be required to use the latest plans when submitting an application. But we should have picked up that there was a building next to the golf course.

"We put our hands up, and we shall be paying the £1,000 to Mr East as promptly as possible."

But Mr East's victory may be bitter-sweet.

The club has permission for the 14th and 15th greens to stay - and Mr East faces the prospect of more golf balls being whacked on to his land. Andrew Smith, a director with the golf club, said that Mr East's quarrel was with the district council.

He said: "All we did was innocently submit a planning application to build the golf course and we were then given the go-ahead." Mr East said he would continue his fight to get the two greens relocated. The issue of the £1,000 compensation will be raised at the next south area planning meeting on Thursday next week, where Mr East hopes the problem will be debated further.

"It averages about one golf ball a day flying on to my land," said Mr East. "Not only is it very annoying, but somebody could get hurt by one of those things."

Story date: Thursday 10 February

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