Family living off-grid ordered by council to dismantle shipping container home

A self-sustainable family living off-grid in an area of outstanding natural beauty have been ordered to tear down their eco-paradise shipping container home by the local council. Dan, 37 and Stacey Bond, 31 have built a new life for themselves and their daughter on land they own on the Hoad Meadow Alpaca Retreat but could soon face being thrown out on the streets due to a lack of planning permission. Mr Bond constructed their unconventional two-storey home - which boasts two bedrooms, a kitchen, a bathroom and a living room - completely from scratch out of shipping containers and other upcycled material in the Kent countryside. The self-sustainable site is kitted-out with animals, vegetable plots, a pond, a hot tub, solar panels to power the house and a popular glamping business offering luxurious bell tents. The couple and their four-year-old daughter, Eva, have lived in the eco-paradise in Swingfield Minnis since leaving their former abode - a converted double-decker bus - in April last year. But now they face being tossed out of their home after Folkestone and Hythe District Councillors ruled they had no planning permission for the site and ordered them to dismantle it. Planning officers deemed the eco-friendly site 'detrimental' to the 'character and appearance of the countryside' and the North Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Mr Bond, who has spent around £40,000 in constructing the family's home on the outskirts of the seaport town of Folkestone, says he only recently learned that councillors would be voting on his family's future. He called the decision to make him and his family tear down their home 'insane', and says they will have nowhere to go unless the decision is overturned. Mr Bond fumed: "What do the council want? Do they want to give us a house? It's just insane. We're trying to be eco-friendly, we're trying to be sustainable. "Even if we did go on the housing list, we're not going to get a house. "So we've tried to do our best and we can't afford anywhere else, so we've done this and this is what we've got. "Within two weeks of moving in we had the planning enforcement officer at the gate asking exactly what we were doing. "This is the right thing for me and my family and the best life for my daughter to be brought up in." Alpacas, pigs, chickens and goats roam in the fields surrounding the self-constructed eco-home, and the family also grow their own vegetables. They have even made their own pond and erected solar panels to power the house and their glamping facilities. Tourists are invited to hire a luxurious bell tent - at £125 per night - or pitch their own tent on the farm for £25 a night. The entire site is made from 'upcycled' material, Mr Bond explained. He said: "We've got a 40ft shipping container and a 20ft one on top. We've got two bedrooms, a kitchen and bathroom downstairs, and then the living room upstairs. "Everything is upcycled. We try to avoid buying anything new because it's just not in the ethos of the place. "There aren't enough houses as it is - we're fortunate we could get the land in the first place. "I think there should be more opportunities out there for youngsters to work a sustainable life. "We've got our vegetable plots, we've got our meat, we've got everything here we're growing and producing, just trying to be as self-sufficient as we can. "It's just such a nice place to bring up a four-year-old. It's just trying to do everything for you and for your family and give them the best. "Something like this is just very unobtainable. "We're not in masses of open countryside. It is a quiet little cul-de-sac - it's not out in the middle of nowhere. "We have never got a handout for anything. We've done everything off our own backs - we've paid our way. "Just because it's a bit alternative doesn't mean it's not right." The family applied in 2018 for planning permission to build a 'subterranean eco-home' on their land, which was refused due to fears it would be an 'unsustainable development in the countryside' - despite the site sitting just metres away from the A260 between Folkestone and Canterbury. Mr Bond argues it is unfair to restrict development on the site, but has struggled to communicate with the council and submit his plans due to his dyslexia and the costs associated with submitting plans. The family succeeded in receiving retrospective permission for their pond and driveway, but now faces having to tear the rest of their facilities down. At a planning committee meeting last week Folkestone and Hythe District Councillors voted unanimously to approve planning officers' recommendations that enforcement action be taken against the family. A planning report stated: "The residential and tourism uses are considered to constitute unsustainable development in the countryside, result in the loss of best and most versatile agricultural land and be detrimental to the character and appearance of the countryside and