Couple secures council approval for eco-home to breed guinea pigs for food

A couple have received planning permission from their local council to build an eco-house in rural Wales, where they plan to raise guinea pigs and other “small-scale farm animals” and eat them for meat.

Dave and Mayu Phillips, who have received planning permission from Pembrokeshire County Council for the development, also plan to raise pigeons and rabbits for food in order to make a sustainable living on the land.

Plans include a “low impact” house and increasing honey and walnut production in the area.

Mr Phillips, who said his family had lived in Pembrokeshire for generations, told the planning committee the project was the way to “contribute positively to its future”.

Councilor Mark Carter quizzed Mr Phillips on his choice of meat and told him: “I’m intrigued by some of the other things you’re going to raise: rabbits and guinea pigs, aren’t you?”

Mr Phillips responded: “(They are) not like the guinea pigs that people have as pets, they are completely different.

“It looks just like a big rabbit and we have years of experience raising them.

“They are raised for meat, very similar to rabbits raised for meat.”

The proposals are One Planet Development; is a Welsh planning policy designed to encourage people to live and work sustainably on their land and to allow building in rural areas where development might not otherwise be permitted.

Mr Phillips told the committee: “My wife and I are very passionate about the One Planet movement and the principles behind One Planet development.

“Humanity today lives as if we had a few more planet Earths waiting in the wings… the truth is, we only have one.

“We can spread awareness of this problem but also take practical steps towards living more sustainably.”