A CARAVAN owner has vowed to defy calls for him to take down his wind chimes.

Retired maintenance man Roger Sellers is refusing a borough council request for him to take down the wooden ornament that hangs outside his house at the Attwood Close mobile home site in Kings Furlong, Basingstoke.

The 62-year-old bought his home in 2009 and lives there by himself, but the entire site is owned and managed by Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council.

Mr Sellers said he put the wind chimes up as he likes the sound they make and they help him to relax.

But he said he has now received a letter from the borough council, asking him to take them down after some of his neighbours complained about the noise.

Defiant Mr Sellers said: “I am not taking them down. I’m not breaking the law and the council will have to take me to court.

“The council is bending the rules for itself. They are letting neighbours put up fences over the legal limit but they seem to be picking on me.

“We have got a churchyard next to us with graves with ornaments. Are the council saying those should be taken down as well?”

The letter from the borough council also asks Mr Sellers to take down a CCTV camera that he said he installed because of fears of crime at the mobile home site. He said another wind chime he had put up had been vandalised by someone earlier this year.

But some residents at the mobile home park told The Gazette that the wind chimes are too noisy.

One man, who did not want to be identified, said: “You can really hear it when the wind gets up. It is annoying when you are trying to sleep at night.”

A woman, who also did not want to be identified, said: “Everyone has had enough of it.”

Kevin Jaquest, head of resources at Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council, said: “Attwood Close Mobile Home Park is owned and managed by the council, and the individual homes on the site are owned by their occupiers.

“The council works with the residents to ensure both the upkeep of the site and compliance with the occupiers’ terms of agreement.

“The matter concerning Mr Sellers is now a legal matter and therefore it would not be appropriate to comment on this at this time.”