A decision by Ceredigion County Council planning committee members to approve plans for a couple to build their first home near Ferwig against the advice of planning officers has been overturned by Welsh Government inspectors.

Development Management Committee members gave the green light for the new affordable home to be built on land on the outskirts of Felinwynt at a meeting in February last year.

The plan was approved by members despite county council planning officers recommending it for refusal on the grounds it would “represent inappropriate housing development”.

Ferwig Community Council supported the proposal, citing the need to retain young people in the community.

Members decided to approve the plan after a site visit, but the decision was called in by the Welsh Government saying there was a “lack of justification for a single affordable dwelling at the site.”

While the inspectors found “the development would enable the applicant and her partner to construct what would be their first home” and “would enable them to remain within the community, close to both work and family connections”, the plan was refused as it “would represent an unsustainable form of development that would constitute an unjustified, injurious and unacceptable incursion into the countryside.”