Lack of buyer forces family to demolish home

A South Wales couple are bulldozing their £450,000 luxury home after they claim a gypsy site next door has put off potential buyers.

Phil and Kathleen Lacey have lived in the four bedroom country bungalow for 25 years and only decided to sell up after their grown-up children moved out.

Despite having interest in the property, people who viewed it say they were put off by a gypsy caravan site which has spread out alongside their home.

The couple are now planning to flatten their home and use the land to develop a caravan site of their own to collect rent from the pitches.

The couple insist they are not moving because of any problems with the gypsy community at the official travellers' site in the village of Shirenewton, near Cardiff.

The couple have submitted plans to construct 11 caravan plots, including concrete hardstandings and amenity blocks.

And they plan to manage the one-acre site and rent private plots to the travelling community.

The council-run travellers' site was set up in 1985 and is home to 300 residents on 55 hard-standing units.Gypsies at the site welcomed Mr Lacey's plans saying they need twice the space to accommodate people wishing to move to Shirenewton.

Travellers on the site said it was a form of racism that people lost interest in the Lacey's bungalow when they discovered the caravan site next door.

Cardiff Council will discuss the proposals for extending the caravan site next month.