PLANNING bosses have refused to allow a shipping crate to be used as a makeshift home.

But last night its owner vowed to fight the decision all the way to the High Court.

Vale of White Horse District Council has ruled the converted container in East Hendred is an unlawful development.

But father-of-one Craig Farmer says he has lived in the box at the former caravan site off Reading Road for more than four years, which would mean the council would have to give it the go-ahead.

And landlord Les Wells has appealed to Government and the case will now go to a public inquiry.

Mr Wells said the appeal was likely to cost him up to £9,000.

But he said he was prepared to pay the more than £30,000 needed to take the fight to the High Court.

He said: “We are fighting to try to keep him a home.

“There aren’t enough homes for these people. The council aren’t doing enough.

“The bottom line is the guy has a home. It’s warm, it’s clean, and people are living in much worse.”

He added: “Refusing permission a total waste of time and money.”

Mr Wells said the inquiry was expected to take place between March and April next year. He also said the crate home was an important part of another planning dispute with the council in which he is battling to keep an access road to the site. The council refused to grant a certificate of lawful use for the crate, saying Mr Wells could not prove the crate had been occupied for more than four years.

But Mr Wells said he produced signed statements from former tenants dating back seven years, and also receipts for the £7,500 building work to convert the old industrial container.

Mr Farmer, 39, pays rent of about £40 a week to live in the steel box which is equipped with plumbing, electricity, a door and windows.

Since he featured in the Oxford Mail in August, Mr Farmer has been made redundant from his construction job.

He said: “With losing my job I have no where to go now as I don’t have the finances.”

He added: “It’s really got out of hand. At the end of the day it’s my home.

“I can’t see a problem with me living there. I’m not affecting anybody. Nobody has to look at me.”

District council spokesman Andy Roberts was last night not able to give an idea as to how much the appeal would cost. But he said: “The application for a lawful development certificate was refused because insufficient evidence was provided to show that, on the balance of probability, the site had been used for the purpose claimed for at least a four year continuous period.”

He said no planning application had ever been submitted for the original conversion.

Eleven years ago, Mr Wells got £1m for selling land to former Oxford United chairman Firoz Kassam for the Kassam Stadium to be built.