ANOTHER modern Herefordshire farmhouse turns out not to have been lived by a farmer for many years.

Mark Williams is seeking confirmation that occupancy of the half-timbered Court House, Rowlestone near Pontrilas has gone against the agricultural tenancy requirement of the property for so long that this can no longer be enforced.

The property was granted planning permission in 1999 so long as it housed “a person solely or mainly working or last working, in the locality in agriculture or in forestry, or a widow or widower of such a person, and to any resident dependants”.

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But that has not been the case since 2006, Mr Williams’ application (number 242270) says.

A sworn statement with it confirms that Mr and Mrs J B Williams, the applicant’s parents, “may have” met the agricultural condition when they first moved in into the property once it was built in 2000.

But the father, who appears to have been Independent councillor John Berisford Williams, ward member for Golden Valley South, devoted himself solely to this role from 2006, the same year that his wife ceased running a “modest” bed-and-breakfast at the property.

Therefore, “no person who has occupied the dwelling since June 2006 has done so in accordance with the requirements of the planning condition”, the application says.

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Letters should not exceed 250 words and local issues take precedence.

Planning breaches of this type cease to be enforceable after ten years, it points out.

Built by local firm Border Oak Design and Construction which specialises in traditional oak-framed buildings, the three-bedroom house was described in the initial planning application as “an agricultural worker’s dwelling in proximity to Rowlestone Court Farm”, intended for a stockman.

This described the couple as owner occupiers of the 300-acre mixed dairy farm, although Mark Williams’ sworn statement with his application says the herd has recently been sold.

Most recently the property has been let out to non-farming tenants, it adds.

Comments on the application for a certificate of lawfulness can be made until October 10.