OLYMPIC gold medal winner Richard Faulds has won his battle to continue practising clay pigeon shooting at his father's farm in Longparish.

Members of Test Valley's northern area planning committee overwhelmingly agreed to grant permanent permission for his Olympic range.

But they only gave three-year temporary planning permission for other related activities like large scale commercial shoots, to allow for more noise tests.

In a packed meeting at the council offices in Beech Hurst, Andover, the arguments were put by both sides with parish council chairman Jeremy Barber urging the committee to reject the proposals.

"People fear the unknown and they fear that if you give permission then the activities will be on a much larger scale and different from what has gone before," he said.

Objector Mr John Ellicock said he would like to find a way of ensuring that Richard Faulds could continue practising his sport along with other Olympic hopefuls.

"But we are unequivocal in our opposition to his father's plans," he added.

Local member Cllr Andrew Dunnett opposed the full proposal partly because he was unconvinced by the noise tests carried out on behalf of the council.

"There is a reasonable body of people in Longparish who are deeply fearful of what this application would mean for them," he said.

However, he 'applauded' Richard Faulds's achievement and argued that the committee should stick to considering his Olympic practice range and not his father's commercial shooting plans.

Mr Bruce Faulds began by saying how proud he was of his son's achievements. "His gold medal would not have been won without this practice ground," he said.

"I think the residents of Longparish are going to be pleasantly surprised by the lack of intrusion in their lives if this application is supported."

And Cllr Garry Rankin-Moore argued the area was regularly used for pheasant shooting - which tended to be noisier because bigger cartridges were used.