PLANS to build more than 260 homes on rural site in Hampshire have been thrown out.

Members of Fareham Borough Council’s Planning Committee rejected two applications to build homes on land off Brook Lane in Warsash at their meeting yesterday.

Foreman Homes put in plans to build the a 180-home estate on land off Brooks Lane and Lockswood Road while Taylor Whimpey was looking to build 85 homes on land just north of the Foreman development, also off Brooks Lane.

The plans had met with 160 objection residents and local businesses.

Vic Styles, chairman of the Warsash Residents Association, said the proposals were “damaging to the community” and would “increase the population of Warsash by one sixth”.

He added: “Why are they right next to one another? A development like this would be colossal for Warsash and our infrastructure would never in its current state be able to support it.”

Other residents were concerned that the development would have put more pressure on services including the Hook-with Warsash Primary School and the Lockswood Surgery which some claimed ‘“on the brink of breaking point’’.

One Brooks Lane resident said the development would turn the village into an urban sprawl.

He said: “The small parcels of land that exist in the Warsash area separate the communities giving them identity and recreation; over development causes problems and stress.”

A report published by council planning officers recommended the plans be refused, citing a lack of agreement between the developers and council over road improvements and the fact that the homes were in the countryside.

The report stated: “The application site is upon land which is entirely outside the defined urban settlement boundary where there is in principle an objection to new residential development.”

The report added that if the scheme were to have gone ahead Foreman would have needed to commit to giving a financial contribution for A27 improvements to cope with increased traffic.

Foreman Homes and Taylor Wimpey declined to comment on the decision but said they were considering whether to appeal.

Councillor Trevor Cartwright, a member of the planning committee and Warsash representative, said: “Both planning applications were rejected as they were both completely contrary to our local plan and were planned to be built on countryside.”