A cottage owner is furious his semi is to be turned into a three-home terrace ... and the council didn't tell him.

Peter Davis realised his next-door neighbour had permission to build another house next to his semi after spotting the new home advertised in a shop window.

A council blunder meant the planning application to build next to Myrtle Cottages went through without residents Mr Davis and his partner Jane Pullen knowing anything about it.

Mid Sussex District Council admitted it had made a mistake and apologised to the couple.

However, it insisted the planning decision for the terrace in Ardingly Road, Cuckfield, would stand.

Chief executive Bill Hatton said additional comments by Mr Davis would have had little effect on the decision.

Mr Davis still refuses to accept the situation.

He said: "Our cottage is only a little two-bed place. It is nothing wonderful but it is our home.

"All we want is to have our say. I accept we might have lost our case even if we had been given the chance to make our objections known through the planning process but we should have been given the right to argue it.

"I spent last weekend standing in Cuckfield with a placard, protesting, and the petition I've started has already got about 30 signatures.

"I feel like a wally standing outside the cottage with a banner but it's the only thing I can do."

The couple fear conversion from a semi-detached into a three-cottage terrace will devalue their 1890 property and change the character of their home of 13 years.

Mr Davis said: "These are little tiny cottages but they're going to be allowed to stick a car park right beside our sun patio at the back.

"It is causing us so much worry and stress. I can see myself knocking it down if it goes up.

"Now they've put in another application for a detached house on the land and we're not sure what to do for the best.

"Obviously, we don't want a detached house built but we don't feel we can oppose it because, on balance, it is slightly preferable to a terrace. If we oppose it, we'll end up with the terrace.

"We've been left in a no-win situation."

He has been advised to contact the Local Government Ombudsman.

Council chief executive Bill Hatton said: "I have apologised unreservedly to Mr Davis. It is our practice to notify neighbours about applications. The owners of the property next to Mr Davis put in an application for a dwelling that was linked to the cottage so it was in fact a terrace of three.

"Other neighbours and the parish council were notified but a mistake was made and Mr Davis was not informed, meaning he didn't have the opportunity to make objections.

"Although he didn't write in himself, the points made by others were fully taken into account by the committee. We don't think the decision would have been any different even if he had written in."