A FORMER bunny girl has been ordered to stop selling rabbits at premises in Stoulton.

Annette Edwards, who runs Bunny Land, has appealed against an enforcement notice issued on the grounds of a breach of planning control on land at The Old Cottage, Pershore Road.

Miss Edwards opened Bunny Land, to breed rabbits, at the beginning of this year. She added boarding facilities for the animals in March.

The mother-of-ten, now in her 50s, was previously a model who posed nude in men's magazines and national newspapers.

She has acknowledged the breach of planning control for the enterprise, which involves commercial boarding, breeding, keeping of rabbits for sale and selling pet accessories and feedstuffs.

A solicitor acting for Miss Edwards, however, has asked for an extension of the 21 days' notice period to three months to enable her to transfer the business elsewhere.

The district council's enforcement notice was also issued to Matthew Hollis, of The Old Cottage.

It says the land has undergone a change of use from a single house and garden to mixed use.

Explaining its reasons for issuing the notice, the council says: "The commercial boarding, breeding, keeping of rabbits for sale and the sale of rabbits and of pet accessories and feedstuffs are considered to be materially harmful to the amenities of neighbouring residential properties and inappropriate within an areas characterised predominantly as open countryside and outside any defined development boundary."

The council added that access to the site was insufficient to accommodate extra traffic generated by the business. In her appeal to the council, Miss Edwards's solicitor said she intended to relocate the sales side of the business and discontinue commercial boarding and breeding of rabbits for sale at The Old Cottage.

She was in the process of acquiring a shop and would need the requested three-month period to complete the acquisition and move.