A hotel owner has been refused permission to expand car parking by the River Wye.

Kimberley Danter of Blakemere which owns the Paddocks Hotel, Symonds Yat in the Wye Valley National Landscape applied a year ago to turn a quarter-acre of north of an existing car park into additional parking space for the hotel.

Whitchurch and Ganarew group parish council objected to this application, saying that a “long-established, healthy” hedge had already been removed.

“There is no need for this proposal other than further commercial gain,” they added.

Planning officer for the National Landscape Josh Bailey said a permanent car park at the spot “would inevitably be at odds with the local landscape character”.

Herefordshire Council’s ecology officer James Bisset said the application did not address likely environmental effects of her plan, not only on the protected river but also the nearby protected woodlands – where any impact on horseshoe bats in particular would need assessing.

He also feared that the car park, some way from the hotel, could attract more wild swimmers and other water sports and leisure users, “with associated increase in recreational disturbance on habitats and species”.

Planning officer Joshua Evans also noted the site is highest risk flood zone but no assessment had been made

The application for full planning permission was refused.