BUCKFASTLEIGH Rangers football club has defended developer Carl Throgmorton, whose plans for a football pitch at Oaklands Park, Buckfastleigh, have become mired in controversy.

Tim Crimp, football club secretary for the past 20 years, said he thought Mr Thogmorton has been badly treated and that Buckfastleigh could now lose a valuable facility due to 'a minority of people.'

Mr Crimp has known Mr Throgmorton since the days when they played together at Dartington. He said that the bad press the former plumber has attracted recently had overshadowed the generous support he has given the sport. 'He was instrumental in setting up Stoke Gabriel, Dartington and Totnes clubs. He's helped all of them over the course of the years. He's done a lot of good for the football world,' said Mr Crimp.

He added that Mr Throgmorton had funded the extension and upgrading of the Rangers' social club from his own pocket and had been generous in allowing local teams to use his privately-owned pitch at Oaklands Park. But the activities of his company WIMS (UK) Ltd in upgrading the pitch attracted complaints from nearby residents as lorry-load after lorry-load dumped material on the pitch, raising its level.

Dartmoor National Park Authority found that it had got higher by one metre in places and crept 13m closer to residents' homes, in breach of his planning permission. Enforcement action was taken, which Mr Throgmorton appealed against, denying that extra soil had been brought on site.

Last month he lost the appeal and immediately applied for permission to leave the pitch the way it was. At February's planning committee, Mr Throgmorton's agent, Mick Roberts, argued that to restore the pitch to its previous levels would involve more than 200 lorry trips to the site.

While not condoning Mr Throgmorton's high-handed approach to planning laws, Mr Crimp regretted that the complaints of a few had now jeopardised a football pitch which could have been enjoyed by many.

He said their youth and ladies' team had had to be disbanded and now there was a question mark hanging over the future of the Oaklands pitch. 'We feel as a club he is just providing a football field and too many obstacles were put in his way.

'We've quite accepted that it is now a dead duck unless he complies with the regulations and removes everything he has put up there. 'As always it is a minority of people who are spoiling the chance of extra facilities for the use of Buckfatleigh residents, at no cost to the ratepayers,' he said.

Katy Coates, of Oaklands Road, challenged the inference that residents who had protested against the planning breaches were to blame. She said that no football had been played there for about seven years because the pitch was overgrown.

'We haven't done anything to stop them playing football – it hasn't been maintained. 'We don't have a problem with them playing football there. What we do have a problem with is the way it has been developed. I have to abide by the rules and so should Mr Throgmorton.' Dartmoor National Park enforcement officer James Aven said that there was an approved scheme to upgrade the pitch and provide facilities. All that was needed was for Mr Throgmorton to comply with it. 'We met his agent up there this week to see if there was any room for compromise,' he said.