A man who built a number of fishing ponds on a rural Norfolk property right next to another property with fishing ponds has been ordered to fill one of his in.

South Norfolk Council's development management committee has backed an enforcement report directing Barry Tunmore to fill in a pond at his property in Fen Road, Carleton Rode, in order to reduce his total abstraction on water to less than 20 cubic metres per day.

It follows a long-running legal battle between Mr Tudmore and Bryn Chetwynd and his wife Joanna, who run Fen Lakes Fishery next door. They lost a High Court case against Mr Tudmore after claiming his ponds, which were dug out without permission, had killed hundreds of fish on their grounds.

READ MORE: Carleton Rode fishery owner loses £5.5m High Court case against neighboursSpeaking at Wednesday's committee meeting, Mr Tunmore said he had reservations about filling in the pond on environmental grounds. But the committee heard a population of water voles who live at the pond could be encouraged to move to the other nearby ponds.