The village of Llanuwchllyn has a strong musical tradition, but one resident has struck a wrong note with planners.

When Francis Stapleton moved into the village two years ago, he had high hopes of opening an organ museum similar to that at his previous home in Newbury, Berkshire.

But the Snowdonia National Park planning authority has taken exception to the two storage containers he had lowered into the front garden of his bungalow in Station Road.

Former bus driver Mr Stapleton is acknowledged as one of the country’s leading authorities on fairground, street and dance organs, and ever since he was a child his hobby has been building and restoring the instruments.

His collection currently extends to 11 different models, some of which have been dismantled to enable them to be stored, and only last month one of them – a Dutch-built organ dating from 1957 – was featured in the Vale of Glamorgan Festival.

The national park authority, however, took a dim view of the containers and ordered that they be removed.

Mr Stapleton, one of the longest-serving volunteers on the Bala Lake Railway, whose station is close to his bungalow, appealed against the ruling, arguing that they could not be classified as buildings and that he would be happy for them to be broken up at the end of their 25-year lifespan.

But Welsh Government inspector Iwan Lloyd has upheld the decision and has given Mr Stapleton eight months to remove the containers, twice the amount of time given by the planning authority but less than the 12 months he had asked for.

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