A pensioner faces a huge legal bill after losing a High Court battle with his local council.

Fred Saunders, 83, took West Oxfordshire District Council to the High Court claiming it ignored more than 1,000 objections to its local plan.

His protest had already been dismissed by a planning appeals board and by former Environment Secretary John Gummer.

And when he took his case to the High Court he was told by Mr Justice Laws: "There is simply no evidence to support the suggestion that the planning authority had taken a cavalier attitude. This application should be dismissed."

The judge ruled that, as the loser, the retired flight lieutenant, of Rouse Lane, Filkins, near Witney, should pay the full legal costs of the case. He said it was up to the council whether or not it wanted to enforce the heavy costs.

Mr Saunders told the Oxford Mail: "I don't know what the costs are and I shan't be able to afford it. It is a mountain I shall have to cross when I get there. The council and I are not the best of friends and they could take it to town."

His complaint was that public objections to the council's local plan blueprint in 1994 were dealt with in three short meetings, with an average of less than one minute's consideration given to each objection. Mr Saunders earlier told the court: "My main complaint is how they have dealt with the objections of 800 objectors. The time the council and the planning department have spent on these objections amounts to less than one minute per objection. I cannot really say that is a way to deal with them."

After the judge dismissed his challenge, Mr Saunders said he was not satisfied that he had been given justice.

"They re-write the local plan every eight to ten years and the opportunity is given to the public to have a say. There were at least 1,200 objections and more than 1,000 were skipped over," he added.

Nigel Roberts, head of the council's legal services, said they had not yet worked out how much money Mr Saunders might have to pay. He said: "Mr Saunders has put us to a great deal of expense in hiring a senior barrister to defend proceedings which he chose to take.

"We have had to spend local taxpayers' money and we are currently considering our position and assessing the expenditure we have incurred through Mr Saunders' actions."

Mr Saunders's battle began seven years ago when his plans to build two cottages in his large garden were refused.

When he and his wife Edna built their home 30 years ago the planning authority was the county council, which designated the site as a built-up area. But the district council later took over and reclassified the site as open countryside.

Mr Saunders said:"This is a fight going back many years. The cottage has about three-quarters of an acre of ground and I'm 83 now and can't cope with the size. It's a good site for one or two houses, so I applied for outline planning permission.

"The plot of ground had at one time eight cottages and it could be said that the ground is part of the village."

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