What a flame drama! A farmer’s plan to build a barn for his two pregnant alpacas angers his furious neighbors.

Two pregnant alpacas are at the center of a planning dispute after angry villagers objected to a landowner’s offer to build them a winter barn.

Landowner Hesham Fada, 60, has complained about the year-long wait he has faced while trying to obtain planning permission to build the shelter.

Fada has warned that expectant mothers will die in the bitter cold of winter unless he gets the green light to build a barn for them and the rest of his livestock.

But villagers living near Mr Fada’s land opposed his planning application, claiming the barn would be too big and would scar the countryside.

Locals say the area, in the Hampshire countryside near the village of Brimpton Common, is “completely unspoiled” and the large barn would “destroy its character”.

Hesham Fada has said his alpacas will die if he is not given permission to build a barn.

Their two alpacas, Scary and Mad, are two years old and will give birth in December of this year.

Egyptian Mr. Fada wants to build a 3,000-square-foot barn with a steel frame and wood-clad exterior along with four corrals on his two-and-a-quarter acres of land.

The owner of the property management company in Twickenham, London, stressed that the estate was not a commercial project, but simply a retirement project.

Mr Fada plans to move to the area eventually and his two adult children are currently helping him with the farm.

Mr. Fada calls one of the alpacas “scary” because she is scared and the other “crazy” because she runs after the other.

In addition to the alpacas, which are two years old and will give birth in December, he has eight goats, a sheep, some chickens and some turkeys.

He hopes to have 50 chickens one day and also introduce 20 ostriches to the site.

There is a shelter on the grounds, but Fada said it was just a roof and was still open to the elements.

The farmer submitted his application in January this year and hoped to have the barn ready for winter, but Basingstoke and Deane Council have still not made a decision ten months on.

He has threatened to build it without permission.

So far 21 objections have been lodged on the council’s website, all from residents of Brimpton Common, where the average house price is just under £1m.

Mr Fada said: ‘I thought the planning application would be approved in three months, it should be built by now.

‘They are trying to punish me, but don’t punish the alpacas, it’s excuse after excuse.

“You ruined my plan.”

The farmer continued: ‘After I retire I need something to do, I love animals, you can’t stop loving animals.

‘It is not for a business, the land is not large, it is not commercial.

‘I can’t sleep, I’m worried about the animals, what am I going to do with them.

‘I’m going to build a shelter without permission, my neighbor did it and no one told him anything.

‘I have the right to protect my animals, I am trying to comply with the law.

He added that his alpacas are ‘beautiful’ and that their noises ‘sound like music.’

Fada said his alpacas “make a very sweet sound,” and described them as “sounding like music.”

‘They are charming, they have character.

“They make extremely lovely sounds, it’s like music, they make a very sweet sound.” said Mr. Fada.

In his objection, former Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council leader Ken Rhatigan argued that access via a narrow road was “dangerous” and there was “no justification” for the barn.

He served as leader for almost three years, from May 2019 to February 2022, and was still a councilor when he raised his objection to Fada’s barn in April.

The 63-year-old said: ‘There is no agricultural justification for a large barn on this site.

‘In addition, there is the landscape damage that any construction on open arable land produces, as it has a scarring effect on the open, cleared countryside.

“The new narrow lane access is dangerous and not suitable for large agricultural machinery.”

Fada wants to build a 300 square meter barn along with four corrals on his two and a quarter acres of land (pictured)

Mr Rhatigan from St Andrews, Scotland, has lived in North Hampshire for more than 20 years and worked as a financial adviser before becoming council leader.

A resident of the nearby village of Brimpton Common, on the Hampshire-Berkshire border, said the “beautiful” valley was “unspoilt”.

Grahame Hawker is a trustee of local allotment charity, Brimpton Common Fuel Allotment.

In his objection he said: ‘This valley is a beautiful feature in this area and, very unusually, is completely unspoilt today.

‘Having a large industrial building will destroy the landscape character of the area.

‘I also fear that this will be a prelude to the degradation of the landscape, paving the way for an application to build a large residence on this land in the future.

“The addition of an unauthorized entry to the road gives locals little faith in future action on this land.”

Brian Smith, who also lives in the “lovely” village of Brimpton Common, wrote in his objection about the impact of traffic on the “very narrow” Hockford lane.

“Brimpton Common is a lovely little rural hamlet set around a triangle of roads,” he said.

‘There have been many accidents here and recently a serious one in which there was a death.

“It appears from the details of the application that it is intended to establish a major agricultural operation which will result in an increase in vehicle traffic, including trucks, exiting through this dangerous junction.

«It is practically impossible for a truck to use the lane.

“Development of this site is most inappropriate, it would despoil a very rural area and have a detrimental effect on wildlife.”

One neighbor commented in favor of the application, saying the land “had been abandoned to Mother Nature for too long.”