A pigeon fancier faces having his 80 prize-winning birds destroyed after council planners banned their lofts.

Heart-broken David Deveson, of Valley Road, Newhaven, has been told to remove the five pigeon lofts from his field, where he has kept birds since 1988.

He says the prize-winning collection of 80 racing birds will have to be destroyed because they could not survive in the wild.

Mr Deveson, 60, has until October to remove the sheds from his field in Chiddingly, near Hailsham, Wealden District Council planners have ruled.

He said: "I didn't have any problems until 1996 when the council was investigating why some vans had been left in another field.

"My lofts were spotted and I've been going through appeals ever since."

Council officials told Mr Deveson he needed planning permission for the lofts.

His applications were refused on the grounds they did not fit into the countryside and he was given three years to remove them.

A report from an independent planning inspector said: "The retention of these lofts on a permanent basis would cause serious damage to the appearance of the countryside."

The council has not received any complaints from Chiddingly residents about the lofts in the 14 years they have been there.

Nigel Braden, chairman of the village's parish council, said the lofts were a harmless addition to the area. He backed Mr Deveson's bid to keep them.

Mr Braden said: "We really didn't feel it was creating any problems. A few pigeons flying around really wasn't anything to get excited about. As far as I am aware there wasn't any opposition in the village."

Mr Deveson, a builder, has been breeding and racing birds since he was seven.

He said: "I've got some that I've had for ten years. I just couldn't bear to part from them. I'm there between 5am and 5.30am every morning.

"It's my life. I'm divorced and my children have grown up. This is all I do apart from go to work."

Mr Deveson has so far ignored the council's requests to get rid of the lofts, which measure between 24ft by 6ft and 8ft by 5ft, but planning enforcement manager David Phillips said he would run the risk of prosecution if he did not comply.

Mr Phillips said: "He hasn't undertaken any work to secure their removal after five years. It has gone through two appeal processes. People have been generous with him, bearing in mind he put them up without planning permission in the first place."

The plight of the birds is being closely followed by local branch president of the Royal Pigeon Racing Association's Keith Wilkins, from North Chailey, near Lewes.

He said: "I would like to see the council look at the letter sent to it by the local parish council sympathetically and leave this man to race his pigeons unhindered.

"He's not doing any harm. No one has complained.

"I might understand if there was a complaint from one of the local residents but there hasn't been. If he has to destroy his 80 pigeons he will be heartbroken."