PLANS for a new four-bedroom house in Teffont have been rejected by a planning committee.

Julie Spence applied for permission to demolish a garage and stables at Paddock View in The Street to build a four-bedroom house and improve the access but Wiltshire Council’s southern area planning committee turned down the application at a meeting on Thursday.

Members of the public raised concerns about an increase in traffic, loss of privacy, inappropriate access, overdevelopment of the site and the adverse impact it would have on the rural character of the area.

Teffont is a conservation area and a housing restraint area and an application for a large two-storey house was refused last year because councillors felt it would have a harmful effect on the character of the area.

The new application has made significant changes to the siting and scale of the house, including reducing it to one-and-a-half storeys, 1.5 metres lower than the previous application.

Council planning officers felt the changes would preserve the open space of the paddock and character of the area and recommended it be approved, but the committee voted against the plans.