PLANS to build a two-storey extension and a detached double garage next to a Duchy cottage have been called “divisive” and “completely unacceptable”.

Dylan Ritter and Jenny Hyde’s application to extend their home in North Road, Mere, went before councillors at the southern area planning committee on Thursday after concerns were raised over its design and impact on neighbouring houses.

Neighbours objected saying their sunlight would be “completely obscured” and that it was out of character and too big.

Speaking at the meeting, Robert Pearce said: “We have a single storey, three-metre extension, as has another cottage in the row.

“The applicants want to put a six-metre, double height extension which would block all our sunlight in the evenings and afternoons and will darken the bedroom windows at the back through the day. We are not worried about a single storey extension but we are worried about daylight and sunlight with a double extension.”

Another neighbour, Phil Sheldon, said the double garage which was five metres tall and five metres wide would also block the sun from shining onto their back garden.

Ms Hyde told councillors they wanted the extra space to have a family and that neighbours were “grossly exaggerating any perceived impact”.

Mere Town Council objected over its size and mass, saying it was not in keeping with surrounding properties.

And councillors agreed, voting to refuse the application by eight to one, going against officer’s recommendations.

Councillor Richard Britton said the proposals were “incongruous” while committee chairman Fred Westmoreland called it overdevelopment.

And Councillor Chris Devine said: “It’s all about symbiosis. This is a lovely little row of four Duchy covenant cottages which are 104-years-old. Whatever one neighbour does in such a small area it impacts heavily on everybody else – I think if you move into a row of terrace cottages then you have to take that into consideration. I sympathise with the applicant’s laudable intentions but that impact on the neighbours is completely unacceptable in planning terms.

“I have seldom seen such a divisive application which impacts so heavily on the neighbours. At six metres [high], this is incredible.”