Plans to build nearly 20 homes on a disused garden nursery site were rejected after it was deemed they would cause “substantial harm” to an area.

Plans were first submitted in November by Canham Homes for the development at the former Oast House Nursery in Ash Road, Ash.

If approved, the existing nursery facilities would have been cleared and 18 homes with 41 parking spaces would have been built.

The development would have consisted of four two-bedroom houses, 13 three-bedroom houses and an additional house with four or more bedrooms.

It would have also been close to the A2, Bluewater, Dartford town centre and Gravesend.

However, on July 21 at Sevenoaks Council’s Development Management Committee, planning permission for the development was rejected.

The site lies within the green belt where strict policies of restraint apply.

The decision letter said: “The proposal would be an inappropriate development, harmful to the maintenance of the character of the Green Belt and will result in a development that is materially larger in scale, massing than the existing development that causes substantial harm by significantly eroding its openness.”

A spokesman for Sevenoaks District Council said: “One of our top priorities as a council is to protect the green belt and this development would have caused substantial harm to the openness of the green belt.

“The applicant can appeal the council’s decision with the planning inspectorate.”