A FAMILY who lost a fight to build an eco-home have won the battle to live on agricultural land in Willand and will pursue their dream of living a carbon-neutral lifestyle.
Stig and Dinah Mason had hoped to develop a house using tyres, reclaimed windows and straw at Muxbeare Orchard, which was dismissed by both Mid Devon District Council and a planning inspector.
But due to changes to planning laws, the couple are now able to convert a redundant barn into a dwelling, which will be powered by solar panels and a small wind turbine, which they will live in while they tend to allotments, a flock of chickens and pigs.
"We are going to keep it so it looks like a barn. I want it to continue to feel like that and our whole ethos is to live as lightly as possible," said Dinah.
"The National Planning Framework has changed; paragraph 55 has been added which is about the regeneration of redundant agricultural buildings.
"We have three years to start, but we will blatantly start way before then. We have got some money saved but after watching things like Grand Designs, self builds are a license to print money.
"But if we are going to do this, we are going to do it properly.
"As a family, this means we can provide a stable home for our boys, Yosse and Dali, while they are still boys and this is the fruition of a dream we have spent a long time fighting for," added Dinah.
The barn situated on the four-acre plot divides a meadow and a smallholding, which boasts 12 piglets and a breeding trio of kune kune-cross-mangalitza pigs, Ryland pedigree sheep, a flock of 35 hens and a second polytunnel made out of recycled materials.
A pair of bedrooms, with a third on a mezzanine floor and a shower room will be developed inside the barn, and the rest will be general living space, heated by a wood-burning stove and water will be treated by a reed bed sewage system.
Mid Devon District Council awarded the Masons permission to convert the redundant building into a barn and use the surrounding land for residential use, subject to a total of 12 conditions, which include the implementation of an archaeological programme and access, parking and turning areas before development starts.
A spokesman for the council, in the planning approval statement, said "the development will neither harm the privacy or amenities of the occupants of nearby dwellings, nor will it cause harm to the safe operation of the public highway. The scheme allows for suitable access, parking and other facilities at the site and there are no highway concerns.
"It is also consistent with national and local policies relating to the conversion of redundant rural buildings to dwellings."
Stig and Dinah were refused to develop the eco-home because the land earmarked was classified as open countryside. They already sell fruit, vegetables and eggs from their chickens which are kept in the smallholding.
Dinah said: "There are lots of little buildings like this barn everywhere and they will make fantastic housing for people. We will continue to do the smallholding, but that isn't a prerequisite for planning permission.
"We can still do all of the off-grid stuff, but not the straw-bale house, but we are still recycling an old building which otherwise would have gone to rack and ruin."
After a sudden windfall, the couple bought the plot for around £47,000 and were therefore able to quit their impoverished lives on a Hertfordshire council estate in 2009.
By living sustainably from their own vegetables and renewable energy where possible, they will not be a burden on the taxpayer and both Stig and Dinah are grateful for the support they have received from family, friends and like minded individuals across the UK and beyond.
They have transformed what they described as a derelict four-acre plot into a haven of self-sufficiency boasting a 400 sq m allotment, two polytunnels and greenhouses to grow fruit and vegetables, chickens for egg production and an orchard they have regenerated by planting around 14 new apple trees of various species.
The couple felt the full force of Mid Devon District Council's enforcement officers who did not believe they needed to live on the agricultural land in a converted horsebox in order to work it.
They faced magistrates on March 31, 2011, when they were served with an injunction to leave within 28 days from June 1 but at the time, Dinah said they couldn't comply with the order because they had nowhere else to go.
The family ended up living on a roadside tent and later a site for travellers but Dinah was summoned to court again for failing to remove the horsebox only days before Christmas in 2011.
Despite the support, Stig and Dinah have received their fair share of objection locally.
Willand Parish Council neither supported or objected to the latest plan to convert the barn but it was opposed by Halberton's councillors who believed it was in appropriate development in the countryside.
Mid Devon District Council received seven letters objecting to the plan and 26 in support. One supporter from the village, Tony Mander, said: "Mr and Mrs Mason are active in the community and I have no hesitation in supporting their application."
Click on the links below for more stories and reaction on Stig and Dinah Mason...
Injunction to move by the end the of month
Carbon-neutral couple's case 'is not exceptional'
Father writes in support of 'off-grid' family facing eviction from their own land
Appalling that such hard work should go to waste
