Councillors have dismissed revised plans to build 64 apartments next to a motorway overlooking neighbouring properties as "wholly inappropriate".

An application to knock down Cobham Lodge in Valley Drive, Gravesend was rejected at planning committee last night.

The proposals were initially submitted to the council in February last year but the final decision was deferred in September.

Had they been approved they would have seen two and three storey blocks of flats replace the existing £1 million property near the landmark Nell's Cafe off the A2.

This included 20 one-bedroom and 41 two-bedroom and three three-bedroom flats.

Sitting cabinet members voted unanimously to reject the bid bringing loud cheers from the public gallery and chants of "not in our back garden".

The development was deemed to be "out of character" with the area and would have had a significant "detrimental impact" if given the green light.

Defending the application at the meeting, developers admitted the application was "unusual" but said it was designed to have minimum impact on existing residents.

Leading the motion Conservative group leader Cllr Jordan Meade said he was "flabbergasted" the revised proposals had made it this far.

The member for Woodlands contested the plans saying they were a "grotesque overdevelopment" which was "wholly inappropriate" for the area.

He dismissed the applicant's revisions – which included layout and landscaping amendments and an air filtration system – as merely "cosmetic changes".

In his closing remarks he described these as a "mere veneer on top of the decay which was the last application", adding they had showed a sheer disregard for the air pollution concerns given the site's proximity to the A2.

Cllr Diane Marsh, who represents the Singlewell ward where the planned development was located said residents did not want to see "this monstrosity in our backyard".

She expressed concerns had it been approved it would have set a "predecent to anyone with a big garden".

Chair of the meeting Cllr Lauren Sullivan (Lab), echoed some of these concerns but was not against the proposals in concept.

She believed the development proposals had been well designed but were "just not right for this area".

Deputy leader of the council Lee Croxton (Lab) agreed, adding: "I can think of a lot places in my ward where they would have been a good development".

Residents had been urged to resist the scheme, which many say would have created noise, disturbance, ruin privacy, bring increased traffic and lead to overcrowding.

Campaigners were in strong attendance with 250 filing formal objections.

This was not without controversy with the council having noted people using incorrect addresses to lodge complaints.

Tina Brooker from the campaign group Residents Against Inappropriate Development said: "This proposal has to be the worst application that we have seen in planning history - a housing estate placed between a row of character detached properties."

She described the process as a "David and Goliath battle" against an "overly dominant" development.

Also speaking against the proposal on the night was neighbour and keen gardener David Gingell.

He said it was not about residents "burying their heads in the sand," adding "what would you be saying if it was built next to you?"

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