A FIFTEEN foot high pile of manure has heaped misery on a homeowner who claims it’s an eyesore and a potential health hazard.

But farmer James Stubbs who deposited the 40 foot long pile of manure in a field opposite the home of Mike Widmer in Low Street, Leeming Bar, near Bedale, says the protests are ridiculous and they are simply doing their job managing the farm in an environmentally friendly way.

Mr Widmer, claims the manure is a deliberate attempt to cause upset after he along with other residents in the area objected to plans for a pit and a call for quarry sites by the Stubbs farming family, from Scruton.

That’s rejected as “nonsense” by Mr Stubbs. “This is the first we have heard of Mr Widmer’s concerns about the manure, he never came to us.

“We manage our farm in an environmentally friendly way. We have put the manure at both ends of the field, it speeds up application, we can spread the muck quicker and plough it in straight away. We spread the manure patches round the field, if you put it in the same place you can end up with a bare patch. It is ridiculous it is something we have always done, to say this is because of sour grapes over planning is nonsense, that was years ago. We have no grievance he was quite entitled to object.”

Mr Stubbs said the manure would be spread on the land in September.

Mr Widmer protested: ”It is just so unprofessional, I have lived here for twenty years and the manure has always been put at the other end of that big field, they have brought no credit at all to the farming profession, I think most farmers deserve a lot better.”

Since the manure was dumped over a week ago, Mr Widmer says the stench has been appalling, causing nausea, rats have been seen in his drive and damage to one of his vehicles had been caused by rodents according to a local garage.

“There was a lot of opposition to the pit and the quarry site and I feel there has been bad blood for a long time with this farmer. To put the heap not twenty yards from our bedroom window is appalling. Visually it is an eyesore and the smell and stench is such that it is not possible to open a window or to put washing out.”

Mr Widmer says he has asked Environmental Health officers to investigate.