A BID for five new homes on farmland in a village conservation area has been rejected.

The proposal for land at Court Farm, in Westbury-on-Severn, would have obscured the countryside view and harmed the setting of the Old Vicarage and Old Police Station buildings on either side, said Forest planners.

Forest Council conservation consultant David Haigh said the farmland location allowed “the significance of both the imposing former vicarage with its impressive walled garden and the well-detailed Victorian Police Station to be appreciated within distant views.”

He said that linking the village and farm complex with housing would diminish the “strong visual and historical sense of separation.”

Westbury-on-Severn Parish Council also opposed the scheme from Robert and Lorna Worlock of Court Farm, which would have seen three of the new homes built on a terrace.