Planners have banned a developer from bulldozing a house in Chesham because the replacement home would be too big.

Chesham real estate firm R&T Ward Ltd applied to Buckinghamshire Council for permission to demolish the property at 124 Botley Road.

The company, run by Roger and Timothy Ward, wanted to replace the existing two-bedroom home with a four-bedroom one.

Its plans also included a slight relocation of the property’s drive and upping the number of bathrooms from one to three on the first floor.

Blueprints for the ground floor showed a large new kitchen, dining and living area with a log-burning stove, as well as an office, utility room and shower room.

READ MORE: Shell gets injunction at Bucks petrol station after Just Stop Oil protests

The new house would have had four parking spaces, which were proposed slightly smaller than the council’s countywide parking guidance measurements of at least 2.8m by 5m.

However, planning officers rejected the application on the grounds of the increased size of the replacement property.

They claimed the new home would increase the footprint and internal area of the existing dwelling by around 177 and 213 per cent respectively.

In their decision notice, they wrote: “The proposed dwelling would be substantially larger than the building to be demolished, thereby resulting in the erection of a materially larger development.

“Given this increase in built form, the proposal does not benefit from any of the exceptions to inappropriate development.”

They added that the proposed house was ‘by definition, harmful to the Green Belt’ and that the applicant had ‘failed to submit any ecological surveys’.

Be the first to know about all things breaking news, court, and crime across Bucks! 📱💡 Unlimited local news, an ad-free app, and a digital replica of our print edition—all with 80% fewer ads on our site. Subscribe now for a faster news experience, click here for details.