An eco-friendly ‘Hobbit house’ is set for demolition after a county council rejected an application for retrospective planning permission.

Councillors on Pembrokeshire’s planning and rights of way committee said the roundhouse built from natural materials ‘eroded the rural character of its surroundings’.

Charlie Hague and Megan Williams have spent years fighting to protect their property, after an enforcement notice was issued in December 2012.

Built from local materials, the home has recently become the subject of an international appeal. Over 100,000 people have signed an online petition in support of its owners, with supporters hailing from as far afield as South America and Australia.

The property was built without planning permission in open countryside and therefore contravened planning policy. Last July, a Welsh Government planning inspector refused an appeal against the decision.

Pembrokeshire said the building ‘represented an unsustainable form of development in terms of distance from day to day facilities’.

Cllr Rob Summons, cabinet member for planning and sustainability at the county council, said: ‘Planning is a rigorous process with clear guidelines and if it is to be enforced fairly has to be upheld by everyone.’

Williams said: ‘We were living in a mobile home here previously, and it really wasn't warm or comfortable.’

‘What is so nice is living in a home like this, is that has been created with such a positive process with friends and family willing to learn crafts and skills to build it as we went along,’ she told the Mirror.

Williams and Hague now have six months to lodge an appeal against today's decision.