PARISH councillors have welcomed a decision to refuse homes on a farm site which they feared would lead to the urbanisation of their rural village.

Bradfield Parish Council objected to plans by Patten Homes for two detached bungalows in a garden at Heath Farm in Windmill Road.

A separate plan to vary conditions of already approved plans was also refused when the blueprints went before Tendring Council’s planning committee.

Sue Cunningham, chairman of the parish council, said: “Two family houses with large gardens have already been built on the site fronting the road, which were approved based on having long gardens in keeping with their neighbours’ properties, a condition we were happy about.

“It was what happened afterwards that worried us.

“First, another developer built a road between the two houses to allow access to the land at the rear of the site where he applied to build first six bungalows and then, later, a further four bungalows.

“This road took away part of the gardens belonging to the two houses and made changes to the layout of their approved plots without seeking approval for those changes.

“Secondly, a different developer, having purchased the original front site, applied to build two bungalows in the gardens of the family houses.

“We are very relieved that the committee have refused these applications.

“Had they been approved it would have created an urban style estate which would have been totally out of keeping with the surrounding area”.

The parish council added that reducing garden sizes to increase the number of dwellings on the site was out of character with the rural setting, making the density akin to an urban development.

Zoe Fairley, district councillor for Bradfield, said: “This kind of piecemeal development by stealth is extremely dangerous. Bradfield is an attractive rural village.

“This site, which is outside of the proposed development boundary for the village, is fast turning into an urban style development.

“Yet another two bungalows here would be completely out of place and I am very glad that my fellow councillors rejected the applications.”

David Wallis, planning agent for Patten Homes, said the plans would have been an opportunity to provide “much-needed” homes for the village.

He added that the homes would have been part of a