A PENSIONER facing eviction from her mobile home says she is being discriminated against because she is NOT a Traveller.

Jane Andrews, 73, spent her life savings fighting Wiltshire Council’s decision stop her living on her land at in Winterbourne Earls, where she keeps four ponies and three dogs.

But her appeal to a planning inspector failed and the former nurse must now remove her mobile home, two caravans and household items - none of which can be seen from the road.

Only the stables, plus “basic facilities required to support equestrian use” may remain. She will then be homeless and the council will have to house her at the taxpayers’ expense.

In a cruel twist, an adjacent field that Mrs Andrews sold to fund her appeal has just been approved as a Traveller site (Journal, August 24). She has no issue with this decision, but feels the council has treated her unfairly.

Mrs Andrews, who is partially disabled after a stroke, said: “I have had no justice. I have been treated like the scum of the Earth. I wouldn’t treat my worst enemy the way I have been treated.”

She added: “I’m not asking for planning permission. I’m asking to be able to stay here for the rest of my life.”

She has the support of her neighbours and Wiltshire councillor Ian McLennan, who has urged council leader Jane Scott to review the decision “out of humanity and compassion”.

He said: “She deserves to stay here for the rest of her lifetime.”

Mrs Andrews bought the land in 2014 and says a previous owner had put the mobile home onto the site and it had been there for four years without complaint.

She paid council tax, but the council served her an eviction notice in September 2016 because the land only had permission for farming and equestrian use.

Refusing her appeal in March, an inspector said enforcement was “proportionate and necessary”. This was despite doctors warning that the stress of a move and being separated from her animals could have “serious consequences” for Mrs Andrews’ physical and mental health.

She said: “The ponies and the dogs are my life,” adding: “Why rehome me when there’s people crying out for a home?”

Wiltshire Council said: “We do sympathise with the situation Mrs Andrews is in, however we would always encourage people to ensure when acquiring land to live on, it has planning permission for that use.

“In this case, Mrs Andrews circumstances were carefully considered by the planning inspector, and she has been given 12 months to find alternative accommodation.”