AN Evesham man's dream for an all-terrain vehicle track in the Vale lies in tatters after his application was rejected.

Vito Muratore, of Cheltenham Road, Evesham, planned to set up the track for the public to ride all-terrain vehicles, in particular quad bikes.

He applied to Wychavon District Council to use a 100 square metre site off Broadway Road, Evesham, which is currently agricultural land.

The application was refused on two main grounds. The first was that the facility would cause a serious noise nuisance that would severely effect residents. The second was because district councillors believed the appearance of the area would be significantly harmed.

The application detailed how Mr Muratore wanted to change the use of land from agricultural to leisure so that the vehicles could be ridden on a purpose-built circuit. It was hoped that because Evesham has nothing like this in the area, the idea would be welcomed.

Mr Muratore said: "I am really not sure where to go from here, but I was expecting it to a certain degree, as the people involved seem to have been against this application from the start. I think people have a view in their head of quad bikes and what the site would be like, and no matter what I had to say it was going to be refused.

He added: "I put a lot of effort into making this application and had a lot of public support for the idea. I even took sound readings in order to prove that noise would not be a great problem. So the fact that the plan seemed to be dismissed out of hand was very disheartening."

There were many objections made to the plans by the case officer, including the Parish Council, Evesham Civic Society and the Environmental Health. Mr Muratore has six months to decide whether to appeal against the committee's decision.