FOREST planners were urged to “look beyond the letter of the law” to allow a new bungalow which would improve life for a man with multiple sclerosis.

Abigail Smith and Gary McCreery were seeking permission to build the new home on land next to Rosemary Cottage in Hartpury.

The Forest Council’s development management committee accepted a recommendation to approve the bungalow despite the fact it would outside the village development boundary.

The village’s district councillor Philip Burford (Ind) said: said the proposals warranted “good consideration and permission”.

“It’s important to say this is one of those cases where we as councillors have to look just a little bit beyond the letter of the law and the rules as laid out in legislation,” he said.

“This is a case where we need to show a little humanity.

“What we have here is a long established Hartpury family.

“Abigail’s father was the milkman in the village for many many years before he retired.

“He is one of the great characters of Hartpury. Victor or Vic as he is known was one of the main contribnutors to the effors to build a new village hall a few years ago.

“It’s a great sadness really for all the homes that are being imposed on the village of Hartpury none are really suitable for this family to move into because of their special needs.

“Therefore a self-build near the family in the little bit of the village that Vic has occupied for longer than I can remember

“This is doing what we as councillors should do, which is help people who have helped others.

Ms Smith addressed a recent meeting of the committee.

She said: ““My family have lived here for three generations.

“I am speaking not just as an applicant but as a mother, partner and carer.

“My partner Gary and I are applying to build a modest single storey home on a plot immediately adjacent to my father and sister.

“It’s not a grand design. It is carefully thought through a self built home.

“The bungalow has been designed with Gary’s current and future needs at its core.

“He lives with advanced multiple sclerosis and is now severely disabled. Reliant on a wheelchair or scooter.

“We needed to leave our last house due to it no longer being safe for Gary and we are in temporary accommodation at present.”

She said the planned house has wide hallways, level access and space for adaptations which complied with national planning policies.

“While we are making do in temporary accommodation, we are already relieved tot be close to immediate family who help us on a daily basis.

“Looking forward we are asking for the opportunity to live safely, close to those who support us so that Gary can live with dignity and more readily engage in family life and as a father.

“And that our young son can grow up surrounded by the same family, community and countryside that I did.”

The plan was approved unanimously.