Plans to build six homes on the site of a redundant cattery in the countryside have been refused.

Planning officers were in favour of the scheme from Esquire Devleopments to demolish the existing bungalow at the Little Dene Cattery in Lenham Heath, along with its cat pens, and to replace it with one detached home, a terrace of three homes, and a pair of semi-detached properties and a car port, but councillors had other ideas.

They argued that only a small part of the site, where the cat pens were, could be considered brownfield, and that the scale and volume of the proposed new homes far exceeded the low-level cat pens.

They also argued that traffic to the site would be far greater than any existing traffic movement, even if the cattery use were revived.

Cllr Clive English (Lib Dem) described the application as “wrong on every ground.”

Cllr Janetta Sams (Ind) said it the would be “highly visible in the open countryside.”

While Cllr Tony Harwood (Lib Dem) argued that Lenham Heath was “a long way from anywhere.”

Andy Wilford, for Esquire, said the company intended to deliver “high quality, bespoke accommodation” that would be all-electric and include the use of heat pumps. He said that the firm had already reduced its plan down from nine homes to six, in order to have less adverse impact.

But he failed to convince Lenham Parish Councillor Alastair Walmsley, who described the proposal as “gross over-development” and “a suburban enclave in a rural area.”

The application was refused.

Details of the proposal can be found on the Maidstone council website.

Application number 20/504976 refers.

The council itself has plans set out in its Local Plan Review for a 5,000- homes Garden Village at Lenham Heath.

The scheme is currently under scrutiny from a Government Local Plan inspector.