Bungalow 'will be bulldozed'

Linda Gosbee says she is 'angry and depressed'

A Somerset couple have lost a fight to stop the demolition of their cottage.

After a lengthy planning battle, local councillors have ruled the Gosbees' bungalow in Shearston, near Taunton, must be pulled down.

The couple have spent years trying to save "Longacre", their home of 32 years, including a failed bid at the High Court.

After a meeting on Tuesday, Sedgemoor District Council decided it would press ahead with the demolition.

The council will now go to the High Court to apply for an enforcement order.

Bob Brown of Sedgemoor District Council said the authority had followed the letter of the law in the Gosbees' case.

"Mr and Mrs Gosbee have gone to the High Court and said 'have the council acted fairly in asking us to knock this building down?' and the High Court have said yes," he told the BBC.

'Angry'

The problems began in 1988 when the Gosbees were granted permission to convert a barn on their land into a home.

Then, in 1993, they were allowed to build another property on another piece of land - providing they demolish the bungalow.

But the Gosbees sold this plot and its new owners built a home there - just as the consent for the unbuilt barn conversion lapsed.

Linda Gosbee, who has lived there for 32 years with her husband, told the BBC: "We are very angry inside and very depressed.

"After working for 36 years we could end up with nothing. We have done everything by the book and don't understand how the council could do this."