Straw house 'must go'

Caroline Barry had vowed to stay in the house

A house made from straw must be demolished after a council ruled it contravened planning rules.

Environmentalist Caroline Barry constructed her home made almost entirely of straw bales and logs coated with lime putty to keep the rain out.

The building in Butleigh, Somerset, has no mains electricity - and no mod cons.

Two months ago it was dismantled on the orders of Mendip District Council after it ruled the property - built on a concrete foundation - was a permanent fixture which required planning permission.

Disapproval

Ms Barry ripped up the concrete base and put the house back together on a foundation made from tyres.

She says she needs to live on the smallholding she works and the DIY house was all she could afford.

But some villagers - and the parish council - did not approve of it.

On Wednesday evening, Mendip planners voted against Ms Barry's application to keep the house by six votes to three.

Prior to the ruling, she vowed she would stay put and no amount of huffing and puffing from planners would make her demolish her straw house.