'Coventry beach' to be removed

Stephen Hammon, 45, constructed the £1.4m attraction in July last year but was fined £4,000 after it emerged he did not have planning permission.

Now North Warwickshire Borough Council has ordered the beach by a five-acre lake in Fillongley, near Coventry, to be bulldozed.

The council claims that the beach and its thousands of visitors are damaging the environment and that it must be removed by 6 August.

Mr Hammon, who used 1,500 tonnes of sand to build the beach as part of a conference centre, suggested officials were being killjoys and has appealed the council's "ridiculous" decision.

"I'm really proud of the fact that this is England's most central beach," he said.

"The beach provides so much happiness. It's not doing any harm so why close it?"

"We employ around 60 staff but if the council gets its way then I'll be forced to lay off the majority of those.

"There all local people who worked brilliantly. At a time when jobs are in such short supply it seems ridiculous.

A spokesman said: "The simple fact is that this beach does not have planning permission.

"Not only is there a considerable amount of other development on the site that doesn't have permission, the company is not operating in accordance with its existing plans.
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