Earth shelter plan rejected

9:05am Thursday 28th August 2008

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PLANS to build an underground home in a west Wiltshire village have been rejected by councillors.

The ecological three-bedroom earth shelter project in High Street, Chapmanslade, near Warminster, was refused planning permission by West Wiltshire District Council's planning committee on Thursday as it was deemed to be 'outside of village policy limits'.

Alvin Howard, agent for the project on behalf of the applicant Clive Michael, from Chapmanslade, said they would be appealing the decision.

He said: "It is outside the village development policy area so it is against policy legally but the point is that there is a new Government clause which states that if you design a beautiful house with the latest technology that is an inspiration to others, we should be given planning permission, but that wasn't the case.

"We will go to the Government (the Secretary of State for the Environment) because they included the clause and clearly the district council didn't look at it properly. They just look over it with their petty rules.

"I really thought they would be more enlightened."

The house would be built using low emission concrete and recycled stone and rubble, similar to that used in the Roman times.

This type of house is usually built with underground heat recovery and costs 30 per cent more than an above ground house of an equivalent size.

Properties like this are designed to last for more than 1,000 years.

Parish councillors felt the building would be contrary to the development plan for the village.

The Environment Agency also objected, saying it would 'create an unacceptable risk of pollution', The two main benefits of an earth shelter are that it takes on the ambient temperature of the soil around it, and isn't attacked by above ground emissions that deteriorate buildings.

Mr Howard, a member of the British Earth Sheltering Association, said: "One always thinks of dank, dark caves where hobbits live but it's not like that at all."