A PIG breeder is celebrating the sweet smell of success after winning a two-year battle against Bolton planners.

And Terry Hopkins is now blaming councillors for wasting tax payers' money and causing him years of unnecessary stress.

The farmer had his plans to build pig units on the edge of the West Pennine Moors knocked back time after time - but a Government planning inspector took just one week to approve them on appeal.

Mr Hopkins has spent £3,000 fighting the council in a bid to expand his pig breeding operation at Rocky Mount Farm off George's Lane in Horwich - a green belt area.

Councillors had sided with nearby residents who complained about smells from the farm and condemned its "unsightly" appearance.

Fears were also sparked that slurry and foul waste could contaminate a nearby reservoir.

But Mr Hopkins, 55, claims the case in his favour was so cut-and-dried that the inspector only needed seven days to consider it instead of the usual six to eight weeks.

The farmer, who also runs a butcher's shop in Lee Lane, Horwich, said: "It should never have been rejected in the first place.

"This is a complete waste of my time and tax payers' money.

"It's been an extremely frustrating process over two years.

"I'm not one for gloating. I'm just relieved it's all over."

Bolton councillors had rejected his planning application against the advice of their own officers. But Howard Barritt, head of planning control, defended councillors, claiming the inspector did not think the council had acted unreasonably.

He said: "The fact that costs were not awarded to Mr Hopkins shows that the council had not been acting unfairly or outside planning laws.

"The fact that it has taken only a week for the application to be approved may reflect new guidelines for planning inspectors to speed up the process."

Government planning inspector Mr Whitehouse said the new plans for Rocky Mount Farm would improve the farm's appearance and smell.

However, the inspector banned Mr Hopkins from letting his pigs roam on parts of his field unscreened by an earth banking and allowed him a maximum of 40 breeding sows.

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