Towering 50ft rollercoaster built yards from Hucknall homes faces being torn down after council rules it 'oppressive'

Ashfield District Council has rejected Mellors Group's retrospective planning application to use Grade II-listed RAF and Rolls-Royce hangars in Hucknall as a rollercoaster testing and storage depot. Planners ruled the 50ft prototype ride looming over Persimmon-built homes on Sandford Lane is "incongruous" and "intrusive," with workers inspecting carts at height able to see straight into residents' bedrooms. Mellors, which builds rides for clients worldwide and runs Nottingham's Winter Wonderland, says it will appeal and insists there has been a "misunderstanding" of its plans.

Resident Jack Welsh, 45, says the coaster is visible from his living room, with test carts "zooming around the track" yards from his home.

The hangars date from 1916 and were used by the RAF and Rolls-Royce to develop experimental aircraft; the listed status complicated Mellors' case.