“Horrendous” plans to replace four houses with two blocks of flats in Bushey were unanimously rejected by councillors tonight.

Members of the Bushey and Aldenham planning committee rejected an application for the site, in Hartsbourne Road, on grounds including a lack of communal parking.

Applicant Fusion Residential LLP submitted a revised application to build two blocks of nine flats after similar plans were previously rejected.

A subsequent appeal was also rejected by the Planning Inspectorate though the revised application was also recommended for rejection by council officers before it came to committee tonight.

Councillor Roger Kutchinsky (Bushey North), speaking at the meeting at Bushey Golf and Country Club, said: “The visual impact in the conservation area and in the vicinity will be horrendous. There is a lot of parking there at school dropping-off time and the road is also narrow. I do not see how these plans have greatly improved from the ones we saw before.”

Although the site does not sit within the conservation area, it was also considered by the committee the new flats would be an eyesore and would be seen from within the protected area.