A FAMILY hoping to live by their farm near Cirencester were refused permission to build a new house.

Members of Cotswold District Council’s (CDC) planning committee turned down an outline application for a home to be built by Manor Farm in Driffield.

CDC case officer Joe Seymour, who recommended a refusal of the application, said there were already two houses situated by the farm and posed the question to councillors: “Do they need a third dwelling on top of the other ones?”

Karen Ford, who owns the farm with her husband Gordon and who lives with her family in Driffield, explained to the planning committee on Wednesday, April 12: “We have four sons, two show signs of following the family business.

“We want to nurture this. We want them to gain hands on experience. Family life is being affected because of the distance between the family home and the main farm.

“The boys will have more opportunity to see their father work.

“We have a number of expensive farm machines, security is a great concern to us. We feel living at the site will be one more deterrent to thieves.”

“The case officer’s recommendation is there is no functional need for us to be there. I would argue strongly against this. We just want to live amongst our farm buildings.”

Cllr Sue Coakley however said the farm owners’ reasons were “not sufficiently strong”.

She said: “I see no reason for a dwelling unless there is an agricultural tie.”

Cllr Robin Hughes disagreed and supported a new home near the farm site: “I think the farmer needs to be on site with these buildings.

“This is a functional need, there is a lot of expensive equipment there. As a farmer, I would want to be on the site and that is where I would want my house.”