A CONTROVERSIAL bid for war games to be reenacted on remote farmland on the Herefordshire border has been ditched.

Frontline Events, of Dunstable in Bedfordshire, had applied for planning permission to change the use of farmland in Greete, a remote village between Tenbury and Ludlow.

The plan for the land, near the Herefordshire border at Little Hereford, would see up to 100 players at a time turn up to play the airsoft war games – but locals said it was "totally unacceptable".

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Airsoft is a team game in which players used mock air weapons called airsoft guns.

Applying to Shropshire Council for planning permission, Michael Card, of Frontline Events, said customers would take part in reenactments of various military games and the company also planned to carry out fieldcraft activities.

But the application to change the use of land from agricultural to sports and leisure has since been withdrawn after 78 objections were received.

There were also 74 comments in support of the bid.

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A design and access statement submitted to Shropshire Council said there would be no permanent buildings built, with portable toilets provided, and no changes to hedgerows or fences.

The three fields that the firm wanted to use would be rented as they are owned by Rock Hill Farm. Off an unnamed country lane, the firm also said that games would be limited to 100 players, all of whom would arrive by private vehicles.

Events would take place at weekends, during daylight hours, the latest at 5pm, but there would be some onsite campaigning on Friday and Saturday nights.

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After a Greete parish meeting, an objection said the plan was "totally unacceptable" in a rural environment, as well as the loss of "valuable agricultural land" at a time when domestic food growth was "desperately needed".

The meeting thought the effect on wildlife and the environment would be significant, and the noise factor, traffic and increased incoming population would be "detrimental to residential quality of life".

It also claimed there was "suspected presence of an archaeological protected site on the field".