A young family from Newport has secured planning permission to turn a church into a home, with solar panels on the roof.

Cilgwyn church, near Newport has, over the years, been left in a state of disrepair and first-time buyers Maya Jones and Robin Donnelly have snapped up the chance to convert it.

The quiet neighbours in the graveyard pose no problem at all for Robin, who met Maya while dressed as Dracula at a fancy dress party. The church will be home for the couple and their young son, Fynnon.

With a strong environmental conscience, the couple want to position solar panels into the roof, to heat the church for six months of the year.

During the National Park Authority planning meeting, Maya explained that the solar panels, made by a company called Genesis, would be flush with the roof tiles and dark grey in colour Councillor Stephen Watkins, for St Dogmaels, declared that the solar panels would look outlandish and that the church should remain looking like a church and not like a dwelling.

However, these sentiments were not shared by the rest of the planning committee.

Committee member Elwyn Owen said: "There is a certain elegance about a church being heated celestially by solar panels from a company called Genesis."

Robin Evans on the panel added: "Here we have a young local family making a home by preserving the character of a church, which otherwise would probably not even be standing in ten years time. Nothing is being done that cannot be reversed. I am in full support of the solar panels."