A modest self-built family home on a Herefordshire farm should be declared lawful despite having been built without planning permission, its owners are claiming.

James Pritchard of Gorsty Close Farm, near St Weonards, is seeking a lawful development certificate for a “cabin” which he says was built at the dairy farm in 2021, and where he and his family have since lived.

A letter with his application says the holding was rented to Mr Pritchard “as a functional dairy unit”, but without any accommodation, after he had been served notice on his previous rented holding at Kilpeck, five miles to the north, and so was “in need of a new farm”.

“Mr Pritchard took the tenancy of Gorsty Close Farm in May 2021 and immediately began erecting the property so he would have somewhere to live,” completing the work a month later, the letter says.

“It was essential that he was immediately able to live on-site due to the labour-intensive workload of milking a commercial dairy herd, which had already been moved from the previous holding,” it adds.

Google Earth images show the cabin in place by July 2021, though not a year previously, the letter says, explaining that enforcement action over planning breaches cannot be taken if more than four years have elapsed since the breach.

The council’s enforcement officer “has been engaging with the applicant” since becoming aware of the unpermitted property in April this year, the letter says.

The application is accompanied by ten signed statements from colleagues, suppliers and his own daughter confirming his family’s residence at the property since June 2021, as well as copy of their tenancy agreement and invoices from the time.

Utilities at the property are included in the rent, while water is drawn locally, the accompanying letter says, adding that no effort was at any point made to conceal its construction.

Herefordshire Council says the application should be determined by July 10.