A FAMILY wants to put a temporary rural workers dwelling at their commercial alpaca breeding business at Little Acorn Farm, St Keyne.

Mr and Mrs Price already have a herd of 20 alpacas including 10 pregnant ones. They intend to develop a herd of up to 30 breeding females with the aim of building up to 69 animals in three years.

They are planning to use some of the alpacas to work with children and adults with learning difficulties.

They also want to increase the size of their flock of 20 breeding Exmoor Hornewes and develop a flock of 330 poultry. A planning statement to justify the home said: ‘Alpaca breeding is not predicable... Alpacas are notorious at hiding the symptoms of illness and close vigilance is required to spot subtle changes in behaviour...In order to farm alpacas properly and at a commercial scale it is necessary to live on the site to be close to the animals to ensure their wellbeing.’

The proposal is for a three-bedroomed timber-clad mobile home to accommodate the family of four, which can be easily removed from the site should the enterprise fail.