Owners of buildings in five areas of ancient woodland in Kent have been ordered to tear them down.

They insisted the structures were necessary for “forestry purposes” but villagers in Adisham, near Canterbury, and environmental campaigners protested about their impact on the protected landscape.

Canterbury City Council agreed the buildings were “unlawful” and issued enforcement notices for them to be removed, which the owners appealed.

But now a planning inspector has backed the council’s stance and dismissed all five appeals.

The “odd and unsympathetic” buildings are in areas of woodland in Adisham of which plots have been sold off to private owners.

The Planning Inspectorate’s decision has been welcomed by campaign group Watch Over Adisham’s Woods (WOAW) which has been fighting the developments.

Chairman Jack Lowe says they are delighted the challenges have been dismissed.

“As we have always said, ancient woods are recognised as ‘irreplaceable habitats’ by the government and therefore the land in and around them should never be developed, except in cases of genuine national need,” he said.

“The planning inspector’s decision notice states that the buildings in Tower Woods are highly likely to have damaged the irreplaceable habitat and are wholly unsympathetic to the local landscape character.

“The inspector also clearly recognised that such buildings are inappropriate and unnecessary for managing ancient woodland of the kind we have in Adisham.

“His decision highlights that wood owners should not assume they can get away with such development by claiming that their buildings are for ‘forestry purposes’.”

Mr Lowe praised the efforts of residents and environmental organisations who submitted representations highlighting “the damage that has been done”.

“As a community, we care deeply about the habitats and landscapes that surround us, and this is the latest example of how we will go to great lengths to protect them,” he said.

“We now call upon the five appellants to comply promptly with the inspector's decisions and with Canterbury City Council's enforcement notices.

“The council must be diligent in ensuring the terms of the enforcement notices are complied with.”

A city council spokesman told KentOnline: "We are pleased to have won the appeals that were made against the enforcement notices for the buildings in the woods. The enforcement notices require the buildings to be completely demolished.”

The owners have nine months to tear down three of the buildings - and have six months to demolish the other two.

The buildings concerned are in plots known as ‘Beech Farm’, ‘Cook Wood’, ‘Prioress Wood’, ‘Little Nash Wood’ and on land forming part of Woodlands Farm, south of Woodlands Road.

The owners claimed the structures were allowed under “permitted planning rights” because they were needed for forestry work.

However, when the city council visited the sites, officers decided they went beyond what was reasonable and issued enforcement notices.

The planning inspector was concerned about the impact of the buildings in ancient woodland and a neighbouring designated National Landscape, formerly known as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

He concluded that appropriate management of the woodland does not depend on any of the buildings, which he described as “odd and unsympathetic” to an isolated countryside location, harming the character and appearance of the area and local landscape character.

He also believed they are likely to have resulted in loss or deterioration of irreplaceable habitat and no evidence was provided regarding any compensation strategies or how these features will be protected or enhanced.

The removal of buildings and concrete bases, he said, would have a beneficial effect on biodiversity, even if the land would not be fully restored to its previous condition.

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The Planning Inspectorate’s decision has also been welcomed by the Council for the Protection of Rural England (Kent) (CPRE) which made a submission detailing its objections.

One of its planners, Richard Thompson, said: “We are grateful for the persistence of WOAW members in trying to protect this ancient woodland.

“We are seeing more of this kind of development as areas of woodland are being sold off but there has to be a very significant justification on forestry or agricultural needs which isn’t the case with these structures in Adisham.”