A SCHOOLBOY has sought to enlist the help of Prince Charles over controversial plans for a huge warehouse in the Hampshire countryside.

Max Day, pictured right, 12, has joined the campaign against proposals by supermarket giant Lidl to build a regional distribution centre on the edge of the New Forest.

In a four-page letter to the prince, who often speaks out on environmental issues, Max said that the warehouse would ruin the area.

The schoolboy included a computergenerated image of the scheme and two photographs of the proposed site at Wade Park Farm, Ower.

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He also criticised the noise, pollution and traffic hazards likely to be caused by the 500 lorries expected to use the site every day.

Looking to the future, he wrote: “I will be very sad if they do get planning permission because I want my children to grow up in a nice wonderful area, not looking at an ugly monstrosity.

Please can you help me? Keep Ower Rural!”

Max has received a reply from one of the prince’s aides, Claudia Holloway, who said: “His Royal Highness appreciates you taking the trouble to bring this particular case to his attention and for expressing your concerns in such a clear and well thought out way.”

However, Mrs Holloway says that the prince is unable to intervene in the local planning process and advises him to contact New Forest East MP Julian Lewis.

She also promises to inform the planning authorities that Max has contacted the prince.

Click here to read the letter Max sent - and the reply.

One of Charles’ closest confidants was Lord Mountbatten, who lived at Broadlands, Romsey. Max’s grandfather, David Clark, 87, of Totton, served with Mountbatten in Burma during the Second World War.

Max attends Mountbatten School, Romsey, and lives near the site targeted by Lidl.

He said: “I’m worried about all the mayhem the extra traffic will cause.

There are lots of accidents on the Ower roundabout and all the lorries will cause more.

“I wanted to do something to help and decided to write to Prince Charles. It was the best reply I could have got.”

Max’s mother Vicky said: “He did it all by himself. I didn’t even know he’d written the letter until he asked me for a stamp.”

The Keep Ower Rural campaign, which has raised a petition signed by almost 3,000 people, also praised the schoolboy’s initiative.

A spokesman said: “It’s terrific and underlines how much people of all ages care about the New Forest.”

Lidl has defended the scheme, saying that the warehouse would serve stores currently supplied from depots as far away as London and the West Country. The company claims that the scheme would help the environment by slashing the distance travelled by Lidl lorries by 5,000 miles a day.