Localism has finally triumphed, with a Neighbourhood Plan being used as crucial evidence to defeat a planning application for back garden development.

Maidstone council's planning officers were keen to allow an outline application to demolish an Edwardian detached house on Loose Road, Maidstone, and to replace it with a modern two-storey house - and then build five bungalows in the back garden.

Two previous applications for the site over the past seven years - one for 10 homes and one for six homes - had already been refused.

The applicant Applecross Homes was represented by Chris Hawkins from DHA Planning who said: "Clearly this is a contentious site."

But he argued that the five bungalows would not be visible from any public viewpoints and said the company was willing to agree a condition that they were only sold to the over 55s, saying there was a need for such accommodation in the borough.

But Jacquie Day, speaking for the North Loose Residents Association, said the applicant clearly conflicted with the area's adopted Neighbourhood Plan, which allowed back garden development only in exceptional circumstances. She said the developer had made no attempt to consult the local community.

Cllr Derek Mortimer (Lib Dem) pointed out that with Maidstone having a 6.7-year housing supply, there was no compelling reason to make an exception.

Cllr Brian Clark (Lib Dem) said: "This is a test of Localism. There is an adopted Neighbourhood Plan and this application conflicts with it."

Cllr Clark said there were good reasons why the application should be refused. It was a cramped over-development of the site, and putting extra traffic onto Loose Road would endanger children walking to school.

Cllr John Perry (Con) praised the North Loose Residents Association for working long and hard and becoming the first area in Maidstone to have achieved an adopted Neighbourhood Plan.

Cllr Perry said: "I believe in Localism."

He told the planning officers: "Neighbourhood Plans are not just set up for a joke or to be put in the bottom drawer of your desk."

The committee voted unanimously to reject the application.

After the meeting Cllr Clark said: “The NLRA had gone to great lengths to address garden development in its adopted Neighbourhood Plan and this application clearly did not meet these requirements or Maidstone’s Local Plan policies. These include having a demonstrable local need, the absence of harm to local character, the maintenance of privacy and no significant disturbance from traffic - noise from vehicle movements within the site would clearly be heard in neighbouring gardens”

Cllr Mortimer added: “While five bungalows were proposed for the garden area, the land is higher than surrounding properties so the impact on neighbours would have been similar to these being two-storey houses on level land. Local residents will be familiar with this site as initially a plan was submitted for 11 houses which included knocking down one side of a semi-detached houses pair - this is the last in a long line of refusals at the site."