A conservationist facing eviction from his caravan wants to build the first carbon-neutral house of its kind in the UK in place of the motorhome.

Tree consultant James Woodward has launched an ambitious bid to build an eco-friendly three-bedroom home, costing £300,000, in Hawthorn Corner, Herne Bay.

The 49-year-old says it will be the only property in the country not to use cement or concrete, be carbon-neutral during construction and generates more energy than it uses once erected.

“All of the ecological stuff that we’re using has been proven, so there’s nothing fanciful about it,” he explained.

“The only thing is nobody’s put it all into one place. All of the building companies will be local; the idea is to create as little travel and carbon as possible.

“I would definitely say that it’ll be the greenest house in Kent and one of the greenest in the country, if not the greenest.

“We’re showcasing what can be done fairly cheaply that we need to be looking for in the future.”

Mr Woodward has been living on the plot, which is on the outskirts of the town, for the last three-and-a-half years in a caravan.

But Canterbury City Council issued him with an enforcement notice ordering him to move out, following a number of complaints from neighbours he was living in the caravan without planning permission.

“I’m trying to put off the eviction until I get planning permission,” Mr Woodward continued.

“If that goes through, the caravan will go once the place is built. If they refuse, we’ll have to go to appeal.

“I’ve got nowhere to live. I have another house in Broomfield, which has a family of four living in it – and I’m not going to evict them.”

City council spokesman Leo Whitlock says an appeal to the Planning Inspectorate against the enforcement notice was thrown out, meaning Mr Woodward had until early this year to remove the caravan.

But the authority put any further action on hold following the outbreak of coronavirus, in order to prevent anyone from being “forced out of their home during a global pandemic”.

Mr Whitlock added: "However, now the rules have been relaxed we are considering the best way of ensuring the caravan is removed as quickly as possible.

"Meanwhile, permission for a house on this site will be considered in the usual way."

The new-build will not be heated by radiators - instead it will rely upon a wood burner and screed under-floor heating, which harnesses the warmth of the sun.

"The purpose of this project is to prove that carbon-neutral buildings can be achieved now; there is no need to wait until 2030 for it to be adopted..."

It will be equipped with solar panels, rainwater recycling systems, greywater tanks, triple-glazed windows and eight-inch-thick walls.

And in planning documents submitted to Canterbury City Council, architect Paul Mallion, of Conker Conservation, suggests that similar projects could be undertaken elsewhere in the county.

“This property is designed to be simple, repeatable, suitable for off-site or on-site fabrication or even self-build, cost effective, and adaptable to different ground conditions found in Kent,” he noted.

“The purpose of this project is to prove that carbon-neutral buildings can be achieved now; there is no need to wait until 2030 for it to be adopted.”

Having withdrawn his first set of proposals for the site earlier this year, Mr Woodward hopes the latest set of proposals will be given the green light by the end of this month.

Construction is expected to last as long as nine months, with the erection of the frame of the building taking just seven days.

Read more: All the latest news from Herne Bay