OXFORD'S beloved Green Belt is facing its most bizarre threat yet – a Christmas tree.

A disgruntled villager in Stanton St John near Headington has made an official complaint to the council that a six-foot 'tree' at the entrance to Rectory Farm is undermining all that the Green Belt stands for.

Admittedly, it is an unusual tree – it is made of old tyres – but the family who run the farm say it is more environmentally-friendly than cutting down a living tree or buying a throwaway plastic one.

Imogen Stanley, who manages the business with her parents Richard and Carla, said the tree was built by farm workers on Saturday and put next to an entrance sign on the B4027 before being decorated with Christmas lights.

At night, all you can see is an illuminated triangular tree shape.

But just two days later the family were told it was blighting the landscape and now they could be forced to take it down.

Miss Stanley, 27, said: "A couple of the guys working for us wanted to make a tree out of old tyres because they were lying around and we thought it was a good idea.

"They spent a few hours on it and we thought it looked great.

"Then on Monday night mum and dad went to a parish council meeting and one of our neighbours stood up to complain that it wasn't a real tree.

"We were all thinking thinking 'my goodness, this is ridiculous' and, as the parish council pointed out, people make trees out of all sorts of things now."

The family came away from the meeting hoping that was the end of the matter, but the very next morning they were copied in on an email from their neighbour to the head of planning at South Oxfordshire District Council.

The Green Belt guardian now argued that the family did not have permission for an illuminated sign at the farm entrance, as well as not having permission for an artificial structure there.

Miss Stanley said: "It's true we don't have planning permission for an illuminated sign, but he was accusing us of ruining the Green Belt.

"She made some comment like 'I understand you might want to please your staff, but what about the rest of the village?'

"She said we were breaking all the planning rules with this temporary Christmas tree, but what about everyone else in Oxfordshire who's put up a Christmas tree outside?"

Although it seems barmy, the Stanleys have had to admit that they do not have planning permission for the tyre tree.

What makes it more delicate is that the family currently have two planning applications pending with the district council, and they don't want the Christmas tree debacle to hurt their chances.

Now they are waiting to see whether the district council will take enforcement action.

Catherine Chester, who lives near the farm, said she was surprised to see the tree because she had understood there was a 'dark sky' policy in the area, aiming to reduce the use of artificial lights.

She said: "We try to keep down the light pollution, so it really sticks out more because we're not part of the city.

"We're becoming a bit more like America now, where everyone has their decorations on the outside of the house when they used to be on the inside."