A plan to build up to 37 houses in a Herefordshire village was eventually scrapped.
The property would have been built on 2.7 acres of greenfield land west of Colwall within the Malvern Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and accessed from Mill Lane.
An application for design approval was rejected by Herefordshire Council’s planning committee in October 2020, with the committee highlighting the likely impact of the scheme on the village and the wider AONB.
The developer, Kendrick Homes of Stourbridge, then appealed the decision. But planning inspector Mazer Aqbal has now sided with the council and dismissed the appeal.
Mr Aqbal concluded that it has not passed any of the “excep-tional tests” for development in an AONB set out in the national planning policy.
It states that “great importance should be attached to the preservation and enhancement of the landscape and scenic beauty” of such areas.
The proposed development “would have a significant erosive effect on the landscape character of the site and the settlement pattern”, it would bring “additional activity, noise and lighting” and “introduce a suburban appearance of upper floors and roofs” and would affect the views from the Malvern Hills, said Mr. Aqbal.
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The inspector said his conclusions were supported by the Colwall Neighborhood Development Plan, which went into effect last June, and by Malvern Hills’ AONB management plan.
However, he turned down an offer from Herefordshire Council for reimbursement of the costs arising from the appeal, saying Kendrick Homes had not “behaved improperly” nor had it caused the council “unnecessary or wasted costs”.
The original proposal divided locals, with 28 objecting, along with the local council, while 70 supported.