A COUPLE are battling to stay on their land under threat of an enforcement order after councillors refused to give them planning permission for a temporary home.

The planning committee of Stroud District Council was split down the middle on whether to allow Emma and Rodney Bird to build a temporary home on their farmland at Stancombe, near North Nibley.

The casting vote of the acting chairman meant the couple were refused permission and will likely face an enforcement notice to move off the land.

It is a devastating blow to the pair who have sold their house and ploughed nearly £200,000 into their smallholding business in which they breed alpacas as well as sell eggs from their flock of chickens and weave baskets from willow grown on the field.

"We will lodge an appeal as soon as possible and hope that we are given permission – we can't give up," said Mrs Bird.

"We have wanted to set up a smallholding for 10 years, we couldn’t afford to buy a big farmhouse and land. We think there has to be a more accessible route into farming, because most people cannot afford it unless they inherit a farm."

Several councillors on the planning committee agreed with this sentiment and supported the application.

Cllr Graham Trave said: "As far as I can see these people are not causing anyone any inconvenience. We have to accept people need to make a living, we should give them a chance."

Cllr David Drew said: "I want to see our farmland actively farm and the only way to do that is to live on the land."

Cllr Roger Saunders agreed: "I have been through small-holding myself and I know people are passionate about farming the land and animals, we should let them try."

However half of the committee felt that allowing the couple planning permission on agricultural land because they had 13 alpacas would set a dangerous precedent in the district.

"I cannot see why we would risk setting a precedent on the basis of the argument the couple have out forward," said Cllr Dennis Andrewartha. "There is no established need to live on site with 13 alpacas."

An officer report noted the business plan made by the couple was not adequate and did not look to be a sustainable business.

Planning officer Daryl Rogers said giving planning consent on the basis of a small flock of alpacas on land would "come back to haunt the council".

Five voted in favour of giving planning permission and five against, with the acting chairman Roland Blackwell’s vote being the deciding vote against.

Cllr Trave added: "I think it is a shame we did not support the application. We had it in our gift to change someone's lives and to let them follow their dreams and we didn’t."

An enforcement report will be drawn up and put before the committee to vote on next month.