DISTRICT councillors have turned down an application for three houses in Urchfont because they do not fit in with the recently-approved village design statement.

Although the development at Cuckoo Farm on the outskirts of the village was the subject of a successful appeal by the applicants, Prime Residential Ltd, last year, councillors chose not to give full planning permission for the building of three detached homes on the site.

The developers had already reduced the number of houses from four to three because of fears it was too close to the boundary with Hales Farm and any occupants would be too near the noise and smells of a working farmyard.

Urchfont Parish Council opposed the application because, it said, the houses were too big and suburban in appearance, it would increase traffic flow near a dangerous corner, and the houses were out of the budget range of local people.

Colin Stone, the district councillor for Urchfont, told last Thursday's meeting of Kennet's regulatory committee that the design of the houses went against the Urchfont village statement, which, although not in force when the plan was first submitted, called for homes in this area to reflect a farmyard concept, to be more in keeping with surrounding agricultural buildings.

He found support from Coun Rosemary Cummins. She said: "Urchfont is a gem of a village and should be protected. The design of these houses is deplorable and doesn't agree with the village statement.

"It makes me feel very despondent when the feelings of local people are ridden over by developers."

Although a report from planning officer Karen Whittington noted that the houses would be obscured by the other buildings on the site, so that only the roofs would be visible, and the design was similar to the scheme approved by the inspector from the Department of the Environment last year, councillors voted to throw out the scheme by seven votes to six.

The grounds for refusal were that it would make for unacceptable living conditions for residents so close to a working beef cattle farm and the design was not appropriate or in keeping with the village design statement.