A COUPLE have been stuck living in a garden shed for four years after plans for their dream eco-home were blocked by a river 12 miles away.
Jane Coyle, 64, and husband Anthony, 67, first submitted plans in 2020 to build a £370,000 three-bedroom property in woodland in picturesque Edwyn Ralph, Herefordshire.
But the project was hit by the county’s “Lugg Moratorium”, which has delayed developments across the area for years due to high phosphate levels in the River Lugg.
As a result, the pair ended up living in a 6m by 3m shed next to their unbuilt 250sq m property after planning permission was blocked until last year.
They are now part of what is said to be the UK’s biggest-ever environmental lawsuit, after the ban – brought in to curb nutrient pollution – halted around 2,000 homes.
Jane and Anthony had sold their six-bedroom farmhouse in Ross-on-Wye before buying the land for £120,000, planning to spend another £250,000 building their forever home.
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Mum-of-three Jane, who works in property sales, said: “We are all for protecting water courses but we have been stuck living in our shed through no real fault of our own.
“We bought the plot of land off a man who had permission to build a four bedroomed bungalow in 2018 and submitted planning permission for our design in 2020.”
She said they worked with an architect on an eco-friendly timber design suited to the woodland setting.
Jane added: “We were assured by our planning officer it wouldn’t take long, around eight weeks, and knew nothing of this moratorium September 2020.”
She recalled that someone locally had warned it could take seven years to get permission – something she admitted she laughed off at the time, but which turned out not to be far off.
Jane said: “The crazy thing is if we had been a couple of fields away, we would have been ok.
“Houses three quarters of a mile up the road have been getting permission to build all this time.”
Since 2020, the couple have been stuck in limbo and unable to start building.
They first moved into a static caravan before relocating to the shed in 2022.
Jane said: “It had been serving as storage for our belongings… but we couldn’t face living in the caravan any longer.”
The shed has since been kitted out with insulation, a log burner, a shower room and a small kitchen – but visiting family are forced to stay in camper vans or teepees.
Jane said they felt “really let down”, adding: “They had us on a technicality… this is people’s lives they are playing with. This was supposed to be our forever home.”
The couple have not been able to put up a Christmas tree since before the Covid pandemic and have kept all their belongings in storage.
They were finally granted planning permission in 2025 after buying “phosphate credits”, designed to offset environmental impact by funding wetlands.
Some developers have been allowed to purchase the credits to offset sewage from new homes but the costs can run into thousands.
Jane said: “We still have to pay off £7,000 of these phosphate credits before building can start.”
She added that the amount of phosphate they would produce could “fit in a test tube”, while surrounding farmland was being covered in chicken slurry.
Jane said chicken farms along the Herefordshire/Welsh border were continuing to expand, leading to more waste being spread on land.
She said new homes made up only a tiny fraction of the issue, adding that they are part of legal action seeking compensation for what they have endured.
But delays have worsened, with Mr Coyle’s health impacting their ability to build, while costs have soared.
They say they now face “astronomical extra costs”, including solar panels and battery storage, and often apologise to neighbours over the site’s appearance.
Security concerns have also meant they cannot leave for long periods.
She added they could now be forced to spend £400,000 to £500,000 on professional builders – far more than planned – leaving them significantly out of pocket.
Law firm Leigh Day has filed a claim on behalf of 4,500 people affected by river pollution.
It says the building ban has blocked around 2,000 homes and is taking action against poultry producers Avara Foods Limited and Freemans of Newent Limited, as well as Welsh Water.
The firm claims chicken farms are responsible for 66 per cent of nutrient pollution, while new developments account for less than one per cent.
The case alleges runoff from farmland treated with poultry manure, along with sewage discharges, has caused severe contamination of waterways.
This has reportedly led to algal blooms, fish deaths and foul odours — damaging tourism, recreation and property values since 2019.
The claim is said to be the largest of its kind in British history by number of claimants.
A Welsh Water spokesperson said that, as a not-for-profit company, the amount it can charge for services is regulated and this limits funds for infrastructure investment.
They said: “In the past five years we have delivered £70 million of investment to improve our sites on the Wye River.
“Unfortunately, the water pollution caused by other sectors during this period has increased significantly, reducing the overall impact of the water quality improvements we have achieved.”
They said they intend to defend the case “robustly”.
A spokesperson for Avara said the company has “done more than any other poultry business to respond to concerns and to support efforts to develop understanding on the complex subject of river health”.
They said there are “no scientific studies, or data, that identifies Avara Foods or even our wider supply chain as a cause of the river’s condition”, adding that academic studies have highlighted other contributing factors unrelated to Avara.