A Ledbury man says he is "dumfounded" to be told his children's climbing frame needs planning permission.

Jonathan Roberts, of Frome Brook Road, New Mills, finished the hand-built wooden structure 12 months ago, much to the delight of his children, William aged six, Evadne, four and Edward, three.

Mr Roberts said: "They love the climbing frame and so do all their friends."

Herefordshire Council has written to Mr Roberts insisting that he seeks retrospective planning permission, at a cost of £135. If permission is not granted, he says he will go to appeal rather than pull it down and would even consider going to the European Court.

He said that during a phone call to the council in August 2004, before he built the frame, he was told planning permission would not be required. Now he has been told permission must be sought for structures within 5m of another dwelling and 20m of a highway.

Mr Roberts said because gardens were so small on the New Mills estate, and usually very close to a highway and other properties, almost any structure was likely to fall foul of the regulations.

A letter from Herefordshire Council indicates it does not consider the frame to be a temporary structure "on the basis of the degree of permanence and the manner on which the frame is fixed to the ground". For safety, Mr Roberts drove supporting stakes deep into the ground.