Entrepreneur, 14, wins battle with council to display sign advertising bags of manure

The council had other ideas. Ruling that it was illegally placed and distracting to motorists, they said the sign must go.

But the 14-year-old, who had spent £100 on the sign which read ‘Steve’s horse manure with wiggly worms’, refused to give in.

Sign of offence: Steve Sayer's board 'breached' planning rules

He took it off the verge outside his father’s livery yard — and collected 1,200 signatures in Cheddar, Somerset, to support his enterprise.

Yesterday, Steve, who has been sweeping up and selling the manure since he was 11, was rewarded with victory after a ten-month battle when Sedgemoor District Council overturned its decision.

His father Julian, 43, described the ruling as a 'victory for common sense'.

Julian, 43, said: 'It was a crazy decision in the first place, which sought to stifle young entrepreneurship with rigid application of rules.'

Entrepreneurial Steve, who hopes to be 'the next Richard Branson', began selling the manure from Julian's horse livery yard when he was just 11.

He earns 83p for each kilo of manure he sweeps up, and has made a profit of almost £4,500 since he started his business in 2005.

In 2006, the Year 9 pupil at nearby Sidcot School spent £100 of his own money on the sign, which he placed between two old wagon wheels on the verge of the A371.

But problems arose in September 2007, when Cheddar Parish Council forwarded a letter of complaint to planning chiefs at Sedgemoor Council about the 'garish' advertisement.

Officials said the board, which shows caricatures of a farmer, was illegally placed and could also distract motorists.

But Steve, who removed the sign from the roadside at the time, spent six months collecting signatures from local residents.

In January this year, Steve also applied for planning permission - but was turned down.

Steve launched an appeal which was upheld earlier this month on the grounds that the sign was not placed on council-owned land, and did not pose a danger risk to motorists.

Now the sign has been put back on the verge, where it will stay for at least five years.

Julian added: 'We now have permission to display the sign for five years - by which time Steve will either have moved on to something else or retired on the proceeds of his business.

'Steve's been doing this since he's been 11, and we just think it's great that he uses his time so constructively.

'It's taken time for the business to develop, but he's sold more than 2,000 bags now.'

A spokesman for Sedgemoor District Council said it had a 'duty' to remove the sign, adding: 'We had complaints from at least one individual about the sign and so we had a duty to investigate it.

'We found that the sign was there illegally, and so we had the responsibility to enforce the law and ask for it to be taken down.'