BOXING coach Paddy Fitzpatrick is fighting for the future of his boxing gym after Swindon Council found he established it without planning permission.

The Irishman, who was previously based at Maxwell Street, moved his Fitzpatrick’s Boxing Gym to a former storage facility he rents, in Ferndale Road, in March 2011. But he says he never thought to apply for planning permission – and the council did not raise the issue for 18 months.

He cleaned and converted the facility, added two extensions and started work – now suspended – to convert the front part of the building into a manager’s accommodation, comprising one-bedroom with a kitchen-living room, office and bathroom.

Following an enforcement investigation by the council, he has now applied for retrospective permission, plus permission to convert an existing takeaway on the site into an office.

The highways department is recommending the plan for refusal, saying the site has inadequate parking and would cause too much traffic. Several residents have also objected, mainly on traffic and parking grounds.

The site has previously been a builder’s storage yard and an ice cream van storage yard.

Mr Fitzpatrick, 44, who has worked with stars such as former WBA Heavyweight champion David Haye, said council officers approached him about paying business rates but no one mentioned planning permission.

He said: “It didn’t even come into my head about planning because I was a business in full flow in Maxwell Street and it didn’t come into my head. I just opened and started trading. It was already a commercial building.”

The gym, which employs one person full-time and three part-time, offers boxing training, core training and ladies’ sessions, various qualifications through its sports academy, and amateur and youth boxing sessions and adult fitness sessions.

Mr Fitzpatrick said he believed the gym, which also aims to provide a positive environment for students from troubled backgrounds, had brought something positive to the community.

He said: “And don’t forget: it’s a boxing gym. We’re fighters, that’s what we do. I’m not someone who accepts.

“I have just got this faith that the right thing will happen and whatever happens I have got to keep fighting.”

Responding to the highways concerns, he added: “There’s never 10 cars there.”

In a letter to the council, a resident of nearby Wiltshire Avenue said: “The change of use to a gym does not in my view enhance the area one bit.

“It is certainly not an appropriate use for the locale which is predominantly a residential area.

“The gym has been in operation without consent for nearly two years.

“During this period the amount of both vehicular and pedestrian traffic in the rear alleyway has increased considerably.”