A Fareham superstore, which got off on the wrong foot with neighbours, is making itself unpopular again.

Bosses at Staples in Broadcut want to install a huge illuminated sign on their new branch.

The store is already unpopular with residents, who claim it blocks out the light on summer evenings because it was built more than a foot higher than the plans allowed.

People living in nearby picturesque 17th century cottages have now objected to the sign, saying it will light up their gardens on dark nights and would hit the value of their homes.

Alan Humphrey, of Wallington Village Association, said: "In the winter months when the evenings are darker, I fear their back yards will be completely lit up by this aberration.

"We will fight them all the way and we will make an appeal against the application if it is granted."

Fareham planners have already turned down one application for a larger sign.

Staples' UK marketing director John Laidlaw said: "The new application for the sign takes into account the sensitivities of the local community and is consequently smaller." And residents claim that planning rules were ignored because the warehouse-style store was built too high when it was completed last year.

After complaints to Fareham Borough Council, planning chiefs finally bowed to pressure and took a tape measure to the building. Twice they measured it and twice they found it too high.

Their results showed that it was 13 inches or 3.6 per cent higher then the plans allowed. But no action was taken because officials decided it was in an acceptable margin of error.

Ernest Etherington, 72, said: "We're losing at least an hour of light at sunset and it's ruining our evenings."