A furious mum has confronted armed police who opened a firing range next to her home - after discovering the cops didn't even have planning permission.
Corin Hancock was able to wander up to the officers wielding massive guns, to demand they stop, claiming her children are too scared to go outside.
Ms Hancock, 34, and husband Rob Chislett, 48, are in the middle of Britain's most explosive neighbour dispute.
The pair their children are afraid to go outside as cops fire high-calibre guns up to four times a week - without a permit.
They say Devon & Cornwall Police have used the neighbouring pond ground quarry near Holcombe Rogus, Devon, for eight years without permission.
In recent years Mr Chislett says the gunfire has become far worse, going from the occasional pistol shots to machine gun-like fire - and leaving his kids scared to go outside.
Video recordings of Mr Chislett's garden show loud gunfire sounds in the distance.
Last week, Devon & Cornwall Police have since submitted a new application to fire weapons all day, five days a week.
In the application they admitted that they had been using the site since 2014 without a permit which they blamed on 'reasons unknown'.
A separate application to build on the site though shows that Mid Devon District Council reminded them to apply that year.
The fresh application also requested permission to fire on weekends and higher calibre weapons than before - infuriating locals who say they feel like they are in Ukraine.
Villagers are also unable to complain to their local MP Neil Parish after he resigned from the Commons after being caught watching porn in the chamber.
Mr Chislett, who lives close by the pond ground quarry, says the site has been used by police for 40 years but since the start of the pandemic, claims it is being used more frequently.
The father-of-two said: "It honestly feels like we live in a warzone. I listen to the Ukraine news all the time and think the videos sounds similar to my garden.
"It's so loud that my little boy is constantly complaining saying he doesn't want to go outside, it's just too frightening.
"For us it's been horrendous, especially over the last couple of years. The frequency and volume of the weapons they are testing there is absurd.
"It's gone from being used up to maybe a dozen times a year with relatively small arms fire to four times a week with high velocity rifles.
"The standard sound limit for a clay pigeon shoot apparently is around 55 decibels.
''That is a level set by the local planning guidelines, and anything above that is deemed a nuisance.
"The levels that we have got to is 70-85 decibels. The planning engineer who we spoke to about it said that this number multiplies by a factor of ten for every ten decibels.
"So at 60 decibels it would be 10 times louder than permitted, 70 it'd be 100 times louder. So we're looking at sounds over 1,000 times louder than permitted.
"I cant tell you the stress it puts people under, especially my wife."
Mr Chislett also claimed that the facility is poorly secured, with children in Holcombe Rogus easily being able to enter the facility via a 'poorly maintained' wooden fence.
He also noted that his wife easily stormed onto the site during firing last week in a fit of rage and confronted police officers.
Despite her being threatened with arrest, she was eventually able to get the officers to ceasefire and pack up for the day.
Mr Chislett added: "It's a really genuine worry that our children who are five and seven could just wander onto the site or even just close to them while playing a game of hide and seek.
"The security on the site is limited. The wooden fences that are there are basically just ones put up by local farmers to stop their livestock wandering in.
"There is a string of barbed wire around it too, but there are easy pathways in and out of the site that are used by kids and animals to get in and use the site for activities.
"They put up the odd red flag when they start firing and a sign at the gate, but other than that you could absolutely just wander onto the site, there's nothing to stop you.
"It's not at all a densely populated area, but there is definitely a risk of people wandering onto the site - there are paths that run right up to the quarry."
He even says the nearby RAF base at Yeovilton once phoned him after an aircraft had to perform evasive manoeuvres upon hearing gunfire nearby.
He claims the Air Force were not aware of the range's continued use, which they often flew helicopters nearby.
He added: "It was from a flight planner who was in charge of planning helicopter sorties - which are quite common around here.
"One of his pilots had to take evasive action while flying nearby because they noticed gunfire and were worried about ricochets.
"They had to phone us up because we were close by and wanted to know if there was something they should be aware of - so the police had never even registered the site.
"It seems overall like some old system that has been there a long time that they want to carry on using regardless of the community or legality.
"We have two little chalet lodges on our land too, and we've had one lady bring her partner who had just returned from Afghanistan.
"You can imagine how a squaddie who was just trying to relax would feel suddenly being put in an environment of loud gunfire again."
Having suspended use of the facility for a week, Devon & Cornwall Police issued their application for permission to use the facility on Monday, May 23.
In the application, Devon & Cornwall Police state: "For reasons unknown to both parties, neither Devon and Cornwall Police or Mid Devon District Council was aware that the temporary consent had lapsed some years ago.
"This is, possibly, due to a change in personnel over the years.
"We recognise our part in the failure to record the lapse in the planning consent and confirm that this was purely by accident.
"It was certainly not by design or anybody’s intention for the end of the temporary consent to go unnoticed.
"The end of the temporary consent was brought to our attention last year, in 2021."
Despite this excuse, the police made a separate application for planning permission to build a structure on the site in 2014.
When this was approved, Mid Devon District Council reminded Devon and Cornwall Police that they would need to re-apply for permission to use the site that year - which they failed to do.
The council wrote: "The applicant is advised that the use of the site as approved under 04/02000/FULL will expire on 31st December 2014, and therefore any continuation of the use as a firing range beyond this date will require the submission of a further planning application."
Responding to the application, Mr Chislett said: "I think the most shocking part really is not just the fact that the police broke the rules, It's just that they are ignoring them still.
"It feels like the police are just running roughshod over us, it just feels like another example of the police having their own set of rules - which is infuriating.
"I cant work out if the application is so poor that they're trying to justify building some purpose-built unit somewhere else, or whether it's sheer arrogance or incompetence.
"I think it's probably the latter, which I find just utterly ridiculous.
In response to the claims by Mr Chislett, a spokeswoman for the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Devon and Cornwall said: "This site has been used for safe police firearms training since the 1970s.
"Unfortunately the fact that planning permission for this essential activity had lapsed was missed, we believe due to a change of personnel.
“As soon as this error came to light our building and estates team commenced discussions with Mid Devon District Council.
“An application has now been submitted which will enable local residents’ views to be taken into consideration and comments to be submitted.”
Locals now say they intend to challenge the facility's continued and future use through protests and legal action.
