A council has been accused of letting a company director ‘do what he wants’ in a row over a golf simulator in his garden.

Pete Bransky built a timber cabin to house the state-of-the-art equipment, but it is bigger than he claimed in his original planning application.

Neighbours in Highcliffe, Dorset, say he deceived council officials by wrongly stating on the plans that the height of the cabin was just under the permitted 8.2ft. Mr Bransky later revised the height of the 23ft wide and 13.5ft long building.

Despite this he has been granted planning permission to keep the golf cabin as the local council wanted to take a ‘positive and proactive approach focused on solutions’ to the matter.

Residents also said it created a fire hazard as it was too close to their fences and damaged tree roots.

One neighbour said: ‘If Mr Bransky wants to whack away in his black plastic shed then that’s no one’s business but his.

‘The problem is the credibility of BCP [Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole] Council to govern it.

'It seems strange that you can put in at least three separate plans all with different measurements on a structure that already physically exists.

'It seems bizarre that you can put in a drawing with half of the false information removed and then get it passed when the historical anomalies are there in black and white.

'This is despite potentially damaging nearby protected trees and the parish council representative vehemently objecting based on size and overdevelopment.

'It is obviously very good news if you want to build anything you like, there's not much point in the planning process as you can obviously make it up as you go along.'

Mr Bransky, who runs a printing business, bought the house in the affluent Highcliffe area of Christchurch, about a decade ago.

The timber building takes up the entire width of the back garden and is fitted with acoustic panels to the walls and ceiling and soundproof carpet tiles to reduce any noise. He has also put in a rubber anti-shock and noise reduction framed base to reduce sound when he strikes the balls and installed a high-end golf simulator impact screen so the balls will not be hitting any walls.

Mr Bransky, who is a member of Brockenhurst Manor Golf Club in the New Forest, said he had not complained about work his neighbours had done to their homes.

He said: 'The next door neighbour is complaining about loss of light, but he put a six-metre extension on the back of his house that blocks my light and I didn't complain about that.

'And the guy behind took out a load of trees and put in an outbuilding at the end of his garden and I didn't complain about that.

'Lots of people have got garden buildings, yes this is slightly bigger than some but it needs to be to have the space to swing the clubs.

'It doesn't affect anyone, I think we need to just let people have what they want. It's all properly insulated and we're not out there all the time.'

In approving his plans, the BCP Council advised Mr Bransky to have a reputable tree surgeon check the health and stability of the trees that might be affected by the building within the next two years.