Eye-catching plans to build an off-grid eco-home have been rejected as planning officers say the scheme would “encroach” on open countryside.

The Grand Designs-style property was earmarked for an overgrown patch of land in Smarden near Ashford.

Developer David Marks from Wateringbury, near Maidstone, wanted to build the five-bed home to live in himself and bring home his sick wife Yvonne who is currently in a care home.

The 75-year-old hoped to set a trend of sustainable housing, but Ashford Borough Council (ABC) has thrown out the plans, saying the development “would give rise to an unsustainable new home in the countryside” and the proposal is “not a dwelling of exceptional quality or innovative design”.

This is the second time Mr Marks has had his dream home refused after a similar proposal was rejected earlier this year.

But instead of losing hope, he says he will now be appealing the decision.

“The residents who lived nearby supported it, they didn't see it as an urban intrusion at all,” Mr Marks explained.

“One of the reasons they refused it was inadequate car parking, which I don't understand because the car parking provisions are well within the guidance.

“We will be appealing it based on the fact they have refused it saying it doesn’t meet the criteria for ‘exceptional design’ but it does.

“The council should get independent advice on this before they refuse it, which they haven't, and we would have been happy to contribute to the cost of that.

“It is very disappointing because the delay is going to impact my wish to relocate my wife.

“It might not be relevant in terms of planning but it is disappointing because we don't think we are upsetting anything, or creating a precedent for development in other areas.”

Plans show the home off Bell Lane would have been an “autonomous” house, which means it would have been entirely self-sufficient in its day-to-day operation.

It would have come with a new pond to manage and recycle water and be surrounded by managed orchards for food production and to encourage biodiversity.

The site is part of what used to be Church Farm which previously had industrial units, converted by Mr Marks during the Covid pandemic into eight new homes.

The remaining two-and-a-half acres behind the homes is where Mr Marks is hoping to build his eco-home.

It would have been made up of nine segments in a chain forming a crescent shape.

All windows and the roof would have faced south in a bid to make full use of solar energy and a pond would be created to take foul water via a treatment plant.

It would have been completely hidden from view by a bund made up of the material excavated on site which Mr Marks says would have been seen as a small hill to neighbours.

The officer’s report added: “The proposal would encroach into open countryside introducing an overtly domestic form of development within a rural location which would appear as an incongruous and intrusive feature and would significantly and demonstrably harm the character and appearance of the countryside and the wider landscape.

“The application has failed to demonstrate that the protected species would not be adversely affected, or that appropriate mitigation could be secured.”

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While Smarden Parish Council “strongly objected” to the proposals, eight letters of support were also submitted to ABC.

Some neighbours liked the fact the development aimed to increase biodiversity and create new habitats, while others felt it would bring an “overgrown site into positive”.