A YOUNG girl with cerebral palsy was left devastated today after council planners ruled her special garden should be destroyed.

Councillors delivered the 'tear it down' message to little Millie Landon despite a call to keep the roof top garden open by 700 people and the local MP.

But Hyndburn Borough Council ruled the play area -- built by the four-year-old's father to give her somewhere safe to play -- breeched planning guidelines.

Chip shop owner Bob Landon was first told to dismantle the garden he created on top of his garage at the back of his shop last November after two neighbours objected , saying it invaded their privacy.

However, 700 people signed a petition backing the Landons, including Hyndburn MP Greg Pope.

Bob and his wife Linda thought they had come up with a solution to the problem after raising the garden fence by 21 inches and they re-submitted their planning application.

But members of the council's development services committee turned it down again.

Mr Landon, of Catlow Hall Street, Oswaldtwistle, said: "It's heartbreaking. The weather is just getting right and the flowers are coming out, but they seem determined to have me pull it down.

"The objections were on the grounds that if I leant over the fence I could see into people's gardens -- which is ridiculous anyway -- but as I am 5ft 8in and the fence is now 6ft that is impossible.

"I'm going to appeal, but if Millie loses this garden and is run over because she has to play on the streets I will hold the council responsible."

The ruling came even after Millie sent a personal plea to planning chiefs, saying: "Please don't let them knock my garden down."

Mr Landon said he designed the garden to provide a safe area for the youngster, whose condition also means she cannot prevent herself from falling over.

Council chiefs told Millie's parents in November that they had to apply for planning permission for the fence they had already built surrounding the garden.

But they later said it breached rules because it invaded privacy.

One of the objectors has since died and Mr Landon claimed the other does not stay at her house enough to be bothered.

"She just uses it as a postal address," he said.

He and his wife paid £1,500 to create the play area, which is adorned with a bench, chairs, tubs of daffodils and a palm tree mural.

At the meeting, Councillor Tim O'Kane said: "This isn't a play area, it's a beer garden. He has shot himself in the foot."

He added that a young woman who lived nearby had complained that people using the roof had wolf-whistled her in her back garden while they were drinking.

MP Greg Pope said: "It's come to something if you can't have a beer in your own garden in nice weather. I am very sympathetic to the situation this family is in and disappointed that the council didn't feel able to think again

"There are rules and regulations to be upheld, but it's not in anybody's interest to demolish the garden."

Mr Landon will now go to the Government's planning inspectorate, based in Bristol.

If no decision has been made after six months councillors can decide to issue an enforcement notice requiring the Landons to demolish the garden.