Plans to build underground home in Great Casterton from designer behind controversial Edith Weston home

The firm which designed a controversial eco home in Edith Weston has submitted plans for another underground house in the county.

Land off Pickworth Road in Great Casterton is the spot, which could feature a three bedroom underground earth covered home, which would allow its owners to live off grid.

The design by South Lincs John Dickie Associates was added to Rutland County Council’s (RCC) planning portal this week and will go before the planning committee in coming months.

The plan is to cut the home into the existing slope on the grazing field and build three bedrooms and a study plus a living area in a C shape layout. The home will operate without the use of fossil fuels, using solar energy, ground heat source pumps, treat waste on site and also harvest rainwater. There is no garage plans but space for a car and charging point at the front of the site.

In the planning application the designers say the home to the north of Great Casterton, will be of ‘exceptional quality’. It says it will be ‘truly outstanding, reflecting the highest standard in architecture and also help to raise standards of modern design more generally in rural areas.’ It will be built on a triangular 1.5 acre plot, which is bounded to the East by playing fields of Casterton College.

The applicant Mr Woodhouse, will no doubt hope his application fares better than the Edith Weston underground house, called Field House. This was refused by the county council in 2021 and then allowed on appeal by a planning inspector.