Residents fighting for an “ugly and intrusive” structure built behind their homes to be ripped down have been given a boost.

Homeowners in Sternhold Avenue have been fighting for four years to have Southern Rail take down parts of a 300m cleaning and maintenance depot, built without permission by the rail operator close to Streatham Hill station.

Now Lambeth Council has drawn up an enforcement notice to serve on Southern, demanding it remove 300 lights stretching 5m above the ground which residents say resemble football stadium floodlights and shine into their home 24 hours a day.

The order says the seven lighting columns, which affect an estimated 100 residents, will have to be removed by Southern in the next 12 months along with three canopy structures, and some other above ground level fittings.

Southern is expected to appeal against the council’s demands, meaning there would be an expensive planning enquiry.

Since the structures were built in 2005, Southern has consistently argued they are a permitted development because they benefit rail services.

Lambeth is understood to have a £1m contingency fund to pay the cost of the court action.

A Lambeth Council planning committee decided the wording of the enforcement notice on Tuesday night(June 16).

The same committee voted to take the action against Southern after a highly charged meeting in April, in which residents emotionally described four years of “hell” they had been subjected to by the depot.

They described the devastating effect on their quality of life caused by the lights, the “monstrous” canopies that lead directly up to their gardens, and a powerful smell of sewage from the depot.

A spokesman for Southern said the rail operator - which last week announced it had successfully renewed its franchise to run trains in the area - was aware an enforcement notice was to be served, and once received it would consider its position and respond accordingly.

The notice should be given to Southern within weeks.

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