A DEVELOPER has lost his appeal to keep a 30ft high earth mound towering above homes in St Mary's Platt, near Borough Green.

William Terry built the mound as part of a private archery range to be used no more than 28 days each year, a public inquiry had heard.

Planning inspector Neil Roberts has now ruled that the mound had an overbearing and unnatural effect on neighbouring homes.

He said: "The development is readily apparent as an alien man-made feature out of place in this attractive rural setting."

Dozens of villagers and St Mary's Platt Parish Council have opposed the structure since it was built almost a year ago.

They have also called for Mr Terry to change the land at Beechin Wood Farm that he flattened for the range back into a slope.

But Mr Roberts said that an archery range on the site was not inappropriate and that the flattened slope could remain.

Mr Terry has been allowed six months to tear down the mound.