A couple has secured planning permission from their local council to build an eco-home in rural Wales where they intend to breed and eat guinea pigs and other “small-scale livestock” for meat.
Dave and Mayu Phillips, who received planning permission from Pembrokeshire County Council for the development, also plan to raise pigeons and rabbits for food in an effort to live sustainably on the land.
The plans include a “low-impact” home, increased production of honey and walnuts on the site.
Mr Phillips, who said his family have lived in Pembrokeshire for generations, told a planning committee the project is his way of “contributing positively to its future”.
Councillor Mark Carter questioned Mr Phillips on the choice of meat, telling him: “I was quite intrigued by some of the other things you were going to grow: the rabbits and the guinea pigs, was it?”
Mr Phillips responded: “(They’re) not like the guinea pigs people have as pets, it’s completely different.
“It’s just like a big rabbit, and we’ve got experience for years now, we’ve bred them.
“They’re bred for meat, very similar to breeding rabbits for meat, very similar.”
The proposals are a One Planet Development – a Welsh planning policy designed to encourage people to live and work sustainably on their own land, allowing building to go ahead on rural sites that may otherwise not be permitted for development.
Mr Phillips told the committee: “My wife and I are very deeply passionate about the One Planet movement and the principles behind the One Planet development.
“Today humanity is living as if we’ve got several more planet Earths just waiting in the wings… the reality is we only have one planet.
“We can spread awareness of this problem but also take practical steps towards living more sustainably.”
