A developer has hit out at a council's "muddled and misleading" approach in a appeal over a decision for plans for a 60 bed care home.

Outline permission for the home for the elderly people with dementia at the junction of Steeple Road and Mill Road in Mayland was granted back in December 2013.

Autumn Care, part of the Aldanat Group, has now submitted a reserved matters application setting out the layout of the new single storey home.

Maldon District Council approved a reserved matters application for the layout of the site in February last year.

But just weeks later refused an application on the appearance and scale of the home.

The plans were thrown out on the grounds the height of the building would result in a “dominant and overbearing” development and over insufficient information on the proposed use of some of the site.

Now Daniel Wylie has appealed to the planning inspectorate on behalf of Autumn Care.

In the appeal statement Mr Wylie says the use of the building was not disputed when earlier applications were approved.

He said: “The council has already approved this and the issue was never raised.

“It is totally unreasonable of the council to introduce this issue when it is not relevant to the matters being determined.

“This really demonstrates a muddled and misleading approach. The council clearly does not understand the proposal and the factors to be assessed in this application.”

The report added that when the outline application and previous reserved matters application were approved the council “did not consider that the proposal would be dominant.”

The application is due to be determined by a planning inspector through the written representation process.

Maldon District Council was contacted for comment.