FLOODLIGHTS at a sports park were granted council permission based on a “factually flawed” application, a neighbour has claimed.

Bob Garrett lives next to Tilsley Park in Abingdon, where light from the current floodlights already seeps through his bedroom windows.

The 61-year-old alleges Vale of White Horse District Council turned a blind eye to factual errors in Abingdon School’s plans to put up floodlights even closer to his house.

He said: “They took the planning application as proof that the lights will be a very low level when in fact that particular report didn’t show the level of light.”

The council should have requested diagrams showing the level of light pollution, he claimed.

Abingdon School, which manages Tilsley Park, got approval from the council in November for a new floodlit throwing area with fencing. The plan proposes seven 15-metre high lighting columns.

The school applied for more floodlights alongside its planned 3G rugby and football pitch, after athletics clubs worried that moving the throwing area outside the current floodlights would flout competition standards.

Mr Garrett, who lives in Rose Avenue with his wife, was concerned that the new lights would only be 50 metres away from their house – 150 metres closer than the current ones.

He accused councillors of failing to question “answers which were put to cause the least problems”. In a letter to the council, Mr Garrett outlined the points in the application which he believed to be untrue.

They included claims that there is no flooding risk, that the site is not within 20m of a watercourse, that there are no adjacent trees which might be important to the landscape, and that the site can’t be seen from a public road or footpath.

Mr Garrett pointed out that the site is in a flood zone, has a stream running next to it, is bordered by a line of deciduous trees, and is flanked by two footpaths and Dunmore Road.

The plans cannot be stopped from going ahead now that permission has been granted, unless the council agrees to a costly judicial review.

Vale council spokesman Gavin Walton said: “To make an accurate assessment of the application, our planning officer visited the site and also sought professional advice on drainage, and the potential impact that the floodlights could have on nearby traffic.”