David Dunn, of Mill Lane, Sidlesham, imported the turbine from China to generate electricity for his house and built it without planning permission from Chichester District Council.

The council gave him an enforcement notice to take the turbine down but Mr Dunn appealed against the decision.

"The council refused the planning application on the grounds the turbine would make too much noise," Mr Dunn said.

"I was unable to know what noise it makes without actually putting it up. The noise levels go up and down.

"I do a lot of travelling in China and they have a tremendous
number of turbines, so I thought it was feasible to do it here.

"They sent me six leaflets for enforcement appeal details. How much money and paper are they wasting doing that?"

There is confusion about whether Mr Dunn's back garden is in a conservation area.

Council documents from November, 2007 show his garden was not in the conservation boundaries, but Mr Dunn said the council 'admitted they had made a mistake' and told him the turbine was actually in the area.

The wind turbine had cost £3,000 from China but it is worth around £20,000 in this country.

For every kilowatt of energy he produces, Mr Dunn earns a small sum from Southern Electric.

The outcome of Mr Dunn's appeal against the council's decision will be decided in October this year.

A council spokesman said: "While the council encourages renewable energy initiatives, the application was refused on the basis it would be harmful to the character of the area.

"The turbine was subsequently erected and enforcement action was taken. An appeal was then lodged and an independent planning inspector will now
determine the case."


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