TV personality Martin Clunes has raised legal objections to a couple making permanent their living arrangements in a mobile home near his Beaminster house.

Dorset Council planning officers had recommended that the continued use of the site as a private residential traveller site should be allowed to continue, but their decision has been delayed after objections from the 'Doc Martin' actor and his wife.

A letter to Dorset Council, from Bridport solicitors acting for Mr and Mrs Clunes, included legal advice from a King's Counsel specialising in planning, which claimed that if the council was to make a decision "on the basis of the facts and matters included in the application", it would be unlawful.

The legal advice said that the family applying for permanent use of the site could not be classed as travellers, as defined in planning policy and law.

The advice said that the applicant, Theo Langton, the son of the previous owners of Higher Meerhay Farm, where the Clunes family have lived since 2007, could not be defined as a traveller and had not been put to the test by the council.

"There is no clear justification for granting a permanent planning permission, only a clear justification for refusing planning permission," said the solicitor's letter, which claimed Mr Langton's lifestyle was not nomadic and to give the site permanent status would set a precedent.

In a report to Dorset Council's Area Planning Committee today (Thursday), council officers said the site was "relatively sustainable" and "acceptable in its design and general visual impact", with no "significant harm" to neighbours.

Experts acting for Mr and Mrs Clunes have argued against the couple being allowed to permanently live on the site, leading to the item being deferred for "technical reasons", according to committee chairman Cllr David Shortell, at the start of today's meeting in Dorchester.

A report to the committee said that previous permissions had been granted for the site at Wintergreen Barn, off the Higher Meerhay Farm access road, two kilometres north east of Beaminster.

These included a pitched roof barn of natural stone and timber with a slate roof, which is used as a workshop, with a green painted caravan on the south east side with an awning extending from it, covering communal cooking facilities and a fire pit.

A mobile home is also on the site, immediately north east of these structures, resting on blocks with ship-lap timber cladding sides and a corrugated dark grey coloured roof.

A touring caravan, previously at the western edge of the car park, has now been replaced with a long wheelbase motor-van, said a council report.

A previous application in 2015 had granted permission for the structures, but for only five years, which has now lapsed.

A 2006 application was refused, although later allowed on appeal to the High Court in 2012, although only for only a limited period.

Points raised against the application, including by Mr Clunes' planning agents, claim the site use causes visual harm to the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), that there is a lack of basic services and unsuitable access along the narrow lane.

It is also claimed that the latest application represents an intensification of the use of the site, contrary to local and national policies, which will impact on wildlife and the natural habitat of the area.

Dorset Council said the nearest home is Meerhay Cottage, over 40 metres away to the east, concluding "as such there are no unacceptable overlooking or loss of privacy issues".

Water for the site comes from one of two springs, with a compost toilet in use for foul sewage and there has been no objection from highways officers.

Said the council planning case officer: "This application seeks to make permanent the use of this site for one Traveller family. Historic concerns over the impact on the AONB have been substantially reduced by the landscaping/screening that has been carried out in recent years.

"The town council are supportive of this application. Given the context of difficulties identifying sites generally for Gypsy/Traveller families, coupled with the 'low key' presence and limited visual impact of this particular site it is considered that it would now be reasonable to permit this on a permanent basis for this particular traveller family."

The report suggested the use would be limited to only Mr Langton and his partner, Ruth Mcgill, and their dependents.