A 20-YEAR battle by Churcher's College to build all-weather sports facilities on its land finally came to an end last week when its controversial pitch plan was narrowly given the go-ahead. But campaigners fighting the plan have branded East Hampshire district councillors "completely out of touch" following last Thursday's south planning committee meeting. Angry residents of Ramshill and Shear Hill crammed into EHDC headquarters at Penns Place to voice their concerns about the floodlights which would back onto their gardens. And at one point committee chairman Sam James was forced to slam his fist on the desk to try to curb outbursts from the objectors. They later said they were "particularly disappointed" that their representatives on the council, Bob Ayer, Hilary Ayer and Brian Dutton, had come out in support of the school's contentious proposals. Campaign leader Joe Wheeler told The Herald: "The action group expressed disappointment at the result of the vote - they had surveyed a wide area of the town and some of the surrounding villages. "They say that they had not met a single person who supported the floodlights, and most were violently against it. "This was borne out by the enormous support for their campaign at the planning meeting. "Of those opposing the vote to reject, one councillor announced that he was voting in favour of floodlights 'because this would keep youngsters off the streets who would otherwise be vandalising the town'. "He also admitted that as a member for Horndean, he had not visited the site and knew nothing about the vicinity. "Another councillor said he was voting in favour of the floodlights because 'he supported sport'. He was in favour of hockey, but then asked 'how long does a hockey match last?' "Campaigners were particularly disappointed at the speeches in favour of the floodlights by the local members, councillors Bob Ayer, Hilary Ayer and Brian Dutton who, they say, were completely out of touch with the feelings of the local population." Bob Ayer had told the meeting the floodlights would not be any brighter than a street light. He said: "I understand the residents' concerns about the spillage of light. I think the suggestion that the pitch be slightly relocated is a very good one and I will certainly be supporting that." And suggestions by councillor Brian Dutton that there would be no noise pollution from the pitch were met with cries of "nonsense" by the campaigners. But there was support for the campaigners from some quarters, and councillor Anna James said the school's plan to offer the facility for community use was merely a "red herring". She said: "I would not like to see a glow. It would look like an airport runway. I do not think that would be advantageous - the lights are wrong." Members eventually decided the pitch should be built five metres further away from residents' gardens than originally intended. Community use was restricted to two weekday nights per week, from 9 am to 8-30 pm. Regular usage would be until 6 pm. On Saturdays, play will have to stop at 5 pm, while Sunday's games would finish at 1 pm.