PROPOSALS for a huge housing estate in the heart of the Hampshire countryside have been thrown out.

Scores of neighbouring residents wrote to the Test Valley Borough Council objecting to proposals for a new estate at Thorn Hill, a site which sits off Flexford Road between Chandler’s Ford and North Baddesley.

Planning officers seemingly agreed with locals and recommended that councillors of the Southern Area Planning Committee refuse the plans for 365 homes.

The site forms part of the ‘green’ gap between the two parishes and therefore has not been identified in the Test Valley Borough Council (TVBC) local plan as suitable for development.

The application included up to 40 per cent affordable housing, informal public open space and structural planting.

As reported, the plans were roundly criticised by residents and community leaders.

In a statement to the planning officer, Valley Park Parish Council said it has “many concerns about this planning application”.

“The countryside in the area has a special character with the topography contours displaying landscape features such that any buildings would be visible to Ampfield residents,” the statement added.

“Valley Park residents have had more than sufficient large scale development over the last thirty years and certainly need a period of time to consolidate its community.”

Others raised concerns about the increased traffic onto Flexford Road which would be the main access point to the new development.