Council condemns man's 'ridiculous' home security

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They say an Englishman's home is his castle, but the maxim was pushed to its post-modern limits when a villager installed high-tech security including seven CCTV cameras and six floodlights at his listed home in the Cotswolds.

Cotswold District Council yesterday ordered Alexander Jones to take down his "ridiculous" collection of devices as they spoilt the listed former agricultural barn near Cirencester in Gloucestershire.

Mr Jones said he initially hired a 24-hour security guard at Sheepbridge Barn in Eastleach Turville. But, after seeing torchlight beaming onto the remote house, he decided to take further action.

Councillor Carole Topple said: "The security completely overcrowded his home and one resident complained of being able to see his lights shining like a beacon across the fields. It is all very over the top."

Mr Jones defended himself to the Gloucestershire Echo: "We'll be left with no alternative but to mount lights and cameras on poles around the house which will be totally out of keeping with the area and the property but which will not require planning consent."

But Jon Pugh, a council spokesman, said they had "a duty by law to preserve such buildings and their immediate surroundings."

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