"Poor" plans for more than 50 homes close to a traffic hotspot between Hartshorne and Woodville have been rejected.

The scheme, submitted by Stonebond Properties (Solihull), was for 54 houses on land behind 97 Hartshorne Road, Woodville, which would be demolished to make way for the housing.

At a South Derbyshire District Council meeting last night (Tuesday) councillors chose to reject the plans by a vote of 10 in favour of refusal, two against and one abstention – despite council planners recommending approval.

Geoffrey Mitchell, who has lived opposite the site with his wife for more than 50 years, told the meeting: "The area is home to traditional housing which has been upgraded tastefully and number 97 has been the jewel in the crown of the area. I know it is in a bit of a state now but that can be rectified.

"I object to it being demolished and replaced with 54 inferior properties.

Tollgate Roundabout, as you know, is a nightmare and the road has been churned up with potholes.

"This is totally inappropriate in this area and it is going to downgrade the existing area."

He said the plans would impact wildlife such as muntjac deer, roe deer and badgers, which called the site home.

Alistair Russell, on behalf of developers Stonebond, said the site was surrounded by other properties, including the Bellway Homes Woodland Rise and Ashberry Homes Hartshorne View newbuild estates at Broomy Farm.

Mr Russell said all the homes would be sustainably built with timber frames and solar panels and the site would have hedgehog tunnels, swift boxes and bat boxes.

He said: "Sustainable housing must be built in the right places and Woodville is one of the most sustainable locations. A windfall of 54 homes here, with 16 affordable, would protect the most rural area of the district."

Cllr Steve Taylor said: "The impact on the community is demonstrated by the very large number of objection letters received by this council. We have had 38 letters, which is high for Woodville.

"It is absolutely fundamental that the wildlife corridor is maintained."

He dubbed the net loss of biodiversity space on the site itself "unacceptable" with a total one per cent gain to be split between on-site improvements (five new trees) and a boost off-site.

Schemes are now expected to have a 10 per cent gain of biodiversity improvements but this application was submitted before that policy was rolled out nationally.

Cllr Grahame Andrew said: "There are many things I don't like about this application. This is the bare minimum that would be able to get through the planning process. There are two spaces for almost all houses and the swept analysis (route) shows a spaghetti junction for bin lorries having to carry out a four-point turn to collect bins. 

"Is this the sort of thing we want to be building for people to live in?"