PLANS to demolish a large detached Hindhead house and replace it with five similarly sized new homes have been rejected on appeal as “not geared towards local identified need”.

Waverley planners refused the application for Montana, Churt Road, which shares a private drive serving three other houses, back in March.

Planning inspector Kim Bennett noted Waverley does not have an identified five-year supply of deliverable housing as required by the government planning framework, which stipulates that in the absence of a five-year supply, development should be assessed as a presumption in favour of sustainable development.

But Mr Bennett backed the borough council in turning the plan down as overdevelopment and considered the site would be too cramped for five houses of such large size.

He stated in his findings: “In my view the provision of five five-bedroom houses would not provide a balanced contribution to the needs identified by the latest Strategic Housing Market Assessment.

“Although I have found the development would be acceptable in some respects, it would not be in terms of the design and layout, the effect on the character of the area and local amenity as a result, and the proposed housing mix which would not provide dwellings geared towards local identified needs.

“While the proposed development would assist in contributing towards the council’s shortfall in housing supply, albeit in a limited way, the major concerns identified would significantly and demonstrably outweigh those benefits,” he added.