The Mail reported last week that Harborough District Council's waste contractor Focsa had submitted plans to relocate from a farm near Theddingworth to a new site in Welham Lane, outside Great Bowden.

But many village residents were left shocked and angry after the firm moved into the site late last week and began operating before the planning application had even been considered by the district council.

Because of a planning loophole, the council is not able to take enforcement action until after it has determined the application.

Now residents, who feel they have been kept in the dark over the issue, have slammed Focsa and the council for what they say are underhand tactics.

A petition has been launched and a public meeting to discuss the issue has been organised for Great Bowden's church hall on Tuesday at 7pm.

David French, of Sutton Road, Great Bowden, said: "I'm disgusted. It's all been done in such an underhand way. If I moved a caravan here and started working from it without planning permission the council would be after me like a shot from a gun. It's one law for one and one for another."

Lorna Walters, of Langton Road, Great Bowden, said: "I didn't know anything about it until Monday afternoon and the news came as a a bit of a surprise. It seems to have happened very quietly and is almost being presented as a fait accompli."

Great Bowden Parish Council chairman Tim Banks said: "We're upset because we've not been consulted on it at all. It feels like a done deal."

Mr Banks and other residents also raised fears over access to the site from the A6, the prospect of increased traffic through the village and environmental concerns.

This is not the first time Focsa has moved to a new site without planning permission.

The firm, which took over from Veolia Environmental Services in April , moved its base earlier this year from Rockingham Road, Harborough, to Pebble Hall Farm outside Theddingworth, to be "more central" between Harborough and Lutterworth.

But it did not have planning permission at the site and submitted a retrospective application to Northamptonshire County Council.

In August the Mail asked the council whether Focsa had a back-up plan if its planning application for the site at Theddingworth was thrown out.

It confirmed there was such a plan but refused to say what it was and Focsa later withdrew the planning application.

According to the planning application submitted for the Welham Lane site the firm wants to store its vehicles, bulk up dry recyclable goods and compost up to 25,000 tons of garden waste there.

A spokesman for Focsa told the Mail last week the move to Great Bowden was a 'commercial decision'.

The firm said no one was available for comment this week.

District council leader Alistair Swatridge, who is also the ward member for Great Bowden, said: "I'm very disappointed they (Focsa] have gone through this process.