A FARMING family is free to follow its dream after councillors went against officer advice and approved plans to build a home on their land in Cononley.

Officers had advised Craven District Council's planning committee to refuse plans to build a four-bedroom home next to Woodside Farm on the grounds the financial stability of the business could not be satisfactorily proved.

But after hearing from applicant Angela Leeming, Cononley Parish Council chairman, Councillor Lois Brown, and ward councillor Patrick Mulligan, the committee came down in favour of the development.

Mrs Leeming said her husband, Steven, and his father had started the farm 30 years ago with a small piece of land and had gradually built it up to what it was today. In addition to the 22 hectares at Cononley, they also own ten hectares in Carleton and rented a further 61 hectares in Broughton.

Mrs Leeming said farming is her family's passion and way of life and that her children are already committed to continuing the family business.

She said they had got to the point with the business that they needed to be on site and had experienced theft of equipment because they lived away. They were also in a position to build the house without having to borrow money.

"We have not inherited an established farm, we have created one," Mrs Leeming added.

Cllr Robert Heseltine (Ind, Skipton South), who has an extensive farming background, said it was a well-established business, with a healthy balance sheet.

"Virtually all the farms in the area have gone, barns have been converted and here we have a farming family wanting to introduce a family farm into a farming landscape," he said, adding that Craven's economy had been built on such farming families.

Cllr Robert Mason (Cons, West Craven) , also from a farming family, praised the Leemings.

He said: "I admire them for the way they have started with nothing and got to where they are today."

And Cllr Linda Brockbank (Cons, Bentham) said it would be a "terrible injustice" to refuse the Leemings' application.

"They should be congratulated for what is a very difficult job."

Permission was granted for the house, but with the condition it be an agricultural worker's dwelling connected to the farm.