A YOUNG farming family desperate to build a home on their own land in Elberton have again had their hopes dashed by planners.

For more than two years Shaun and Lisa Meachin and their five children have been forced to live in rented accommodation outside the village since losing their tied cottage through redundancy.

Last year they thought their problems were over when council development watchdogs gave the go ahead in principle for an agricultural dwelling at Redhill Valley Farm in the face of tight curbs on Green Belt development.

But councillors have now twice turned down their plans for a house big enough for the family. When the latest plans - for a four bedroom house - came befre the development control (west) committee, chairman Cllr Alan Bracey said: "I see this as over-development within the Green Belt."

And despite advice from planning officers, councillors ruled by a narrow majority that the proposed house was still out of scale with the functional requirements of farming the land. "We just don't know what they want," said Lisa Meachin.

"The first application was for a house with seven bedrooms and we can understand why they took exception to that - even though it wouldn't have been unreasonable for a family with five children aged between 8 and 17.

"We downsized to four bedrooms which is about as small as we can go and now they've refused that, too. We don't know what more we can do. With one breath they're telling us we can live there but with the next they seem to be telling us we can't.

"We need to live on the farm to run it properly and and to carry on our agricultural contracting business. We can't go on living away in rented accommodation. All we can do now move a couple of caravans onto the land."

Shaun Meachin said: "There's an old single storey barn but it wouldn't provide more than two bedrooms if it was converted. Perhaps that's where they want all of us to live."

The couple's bid to return to the village where they were brought up has won overwhelming support from the community, including Aust Parish Council.

Parish councillor Mike Hawkins told the meeting: "We want this well respected young family to be able to work their land and to operate their business successfully. They play an increasingly key role in local agriculture."

After the committee's "no " vote he said: "The decision is totally inconsistent and quite bewildering. The whole village wants them back in the community. People are going to very upset by this."