COUNCILLORS have rallied in support of an UIverston fire-fighter trying to build a home for his family.

Father-of-three Oliver Prosser, of Birkett Drive, applied to self-build up to two houses on a field off Carley Lane near the former isolation hospital.

South Lakeland District Council planning officers recommended it be refused on the grounds of development in the open countryside.

But councillors on the planning committee voted to defer any decision and pledged the council would consider an application for a single house on the site.

Mr Prosser told the hearing that he and his family had lived in a small three-bedroom bungalow but had outgrown it. He said with no room to extend, they had no choice but to move but four-bedroom homes in the Ulverston area were out of their budget.

Mr Prosser said: “I work as a full-time and on-call firefighter at Ulverston fire station and my fiancé works as a staff nurse at Furness General Hospital – both on relatively low wages and with no sign of a pay-rise in the foreseeable future. We have been given the opportunity to use this piece of land by my father, who has owned it since 1959."

Mr Prosser said his father was in his late-80s and they needed to be close by to provide him with daily help.

“If we have this application refused it is highly likely that we will have to move a 30-minute drive away,” said Mr Prosser.

Council planning officer Mike Hoare told the committee that the site was in open countryside and the scheme was “anomalous” and did not accord with policies.

Resident Nick Petrie spoke on behalf of a group of people who opposed the application.

Mr Petrie said: “There is a good supply of land already earmarked for residential development in the local development plan. In addition, if planning approval was granted, we would sense a really dangerous precedent, particularly for the adjacent land.”

Planning committee member, Cllr David Williams said he felt “dreadfully sorry” for the applicant but there was “no excuse” for building in open countryside.

Cllr Janette Jenkinson said the area was not as “open” as councillors thought and the council needed to encourage people to self-build.

“I will not be supporting the recommendation to refuse.”

Cllr Vicky Hughes said she could not support the recommendation. “It’s on the edge of a hamlet and we need to support self-build, although I don’t think it would be necessary to have two houses, one would be sufficient.”

The committee agreed to defer the decision for the council to speak to the applicant about an application for a single house.