Plans for 121 new Weedon homes were turned down by Daventry District Council’s planning committee on Wednesday, October 8.
The proposed development off New Street in the village had been recommended for refusal by council officers over concerns including the environmental impact on open countryside and the additional strain more houses would put on highways and sewage facilities.
The officer’s report on the proposal stated: “The development would be a peripheral cul-de-sac estate that would suburbanise this rural village location and would erode the local character and historic form of the settlement”
Weedon residents also reacted strongly against the plans, arguing existing infrastructure such as the local primary and GP surgery would both need to be expanded to cope with the demand.
More than 500 residents sent letters stating their opposition the development to Daventry District Council.
Dale Langley, speaking on behalf of Weedon Action Group, said: “We are very pleased that the planning committee followed the advice of the planning officer.
“We are hoping this decision will now hold and that the developers won’t to try to put through another application for this site.”
Mr Langley said residents were cautiously optimistic about the end of speculative development with the upcoming adoption of Daventry district’s new Joint Core Strategy masterplan for the district, which should make it easier for the planning committee to refuse unwanted development.
He added: “We understand there is a need for more housing, but this site is the wrong place,”