Gipsy David Moss has made a passionate plea for racial tolerance after his wife and children were subjected to a frightening night attack on their caravan home, and his Mercedes car was vandalised.

When Mr Moss, 44, won planning permission to move a mobile home and a caravan onto a paddock he had bought at Ashcott, near Somerton in Somerset, he was looking forward to a quiet life in the idyllic landscape.

He had followed the rules and waited until he was granted permission before moving the homes onto the site, is happy to be bound by a planning condition that makes the approval personal and means that if he sells the land it can only be for use as a paddock.

He has also made a £1,658 contribution towards sportsfacilities in the village, is keeping the field neat and trim, and has won thanks from some villagers for cutting back vegetation on a footpath which crosses the land.

But Sedgemoor district council's decision to approve his home has caused huge controversy because the paddock is in open countryside. Many villagers, and the parish council, say Sedgemoor mishandled the application, making mistakes, including stating that the site was only 150 metres from other properties when in fact it is more than twice that distance.

The parish council is taking legal advice over seeking a judicial review of the decision and one local is understood to have reported the council to the Local Government Ombudsman.

Two other Gipsy families have lived in Ashcott for many years and villagers are adamant that there is nothing personal or racist in their opposition to Mr Moss's application.

They say they would have opposed any plans by anyone to build a home there, and wanted Sedgemoor councillors to hold a site meeting before making a decision, but the council declined.

Government guidance gives some groups, including Gipsies, special consideration, and officers advised councillors that if the application was refused the council could face, and lose, a costly appeal.

Mr Moss, who had been living on an unapproved site at Woolavington with his wife, Alison, daughter, Gemma, 16 and son David, seven, before the move said: "Everyone we have met in the village has been friendly, and people have been pleased with what we have done with the footpath, but one night six or seven people came in the gate in the early hours with lumps of wood threatening to kill me and calling my wife and kids names.

"We called police. They caught them and spoke to them but said it was their word against ours.

"I have also reported it to the Race Relations Board, and Helen, our community support officer, has been really helpful. In 2008 this kind of racism just should not exist.

"Lumps of rock were thrown over the hedge and smashed all the windows of the caravan that was here at the time, and the awning was ripped. It was a write-off and my family has clubbed together to buy the one we have now because I have had strokes and an operation to remove my right lung and cannot work at the moment.

"A gipsy who has lived here for some time invited us to go down to an evening at the pub and everyone was friendly and smiling and shaking my hand. Then when we came home I found my Mercedes had been scratched and kicked and I will have a bill of £2,500.

"We are all just people; there are good and bad in all walks of life. It is only a tiny minority who is doing this – and I don't know where they come from.

"I've put my life savings into this place and I want to stay here. I couldn't bring other families here even if I wanted to – the permission is personal.

"I haven't got droves of kids running about and I keep the place tidy. I don't want to cause animosity by speaking out but the attacks must stop."

Police are investigating the car attack, on August 24, and have appealed for witnesses.

Parish council chairman Mrs Cilla Grain said: "I did not know of this but this kind of behaviour is horrible wherever and whenever it happens.

" We try our best to make this a happy community for everyone and there is nothing personal in our objection to the approval. Our main concern is that this is in open countryside. We are very careful to restrict development within the village limits."

Sally Woodbury of the Romany Gipsy Advisory Group said: "Gipsies are always being accused of anti-social behaviour.

"Mr Moss has done nothing wrong and we want it to be known that this is happening."