Plans to build seven bungalows on land at the edge of Coleorton have been rejected for a third time by planning officers.

The new homes were intended for over-55s and those with medical needs, with the existing Rosine Cottage on the land proposed to be demolished to make way for them.

However, planning officers at North West Leicestershire District Council (NWLDC) said the village has "no shops" and "no sustainable transport options".

As such, they did not consider it would have been suitable for "older residents and those with medical needs", which officers felt could include those with "mobility issues", to be located somewhere so "isolated".

Residents would also likely have to travel by car to access "everyday services", officers added, which would have knock-on environmental impacts. NWLDC raised further concerns that any potential future occupier would have had "insufficient" garden space, saying they felt the scheme as proposed constituted "over-development" and would be "cramped".

Officers described the plan for land, in The Moor, as a "resubmission of two previously refused applications", saying it was of a "similar scale and nature".

A third application for the site was granted in September 2023, however this was to convert the Rosine Cottage into three homes, rather than demolishing it. That application is still active and can still be implemented.

Further to the concerns over the suitability of the scheme for its intended residents, officers criticised its impact on the countryside at the edges of the village, near Coalville. They said the project would "inevitably erode a largely open and undeveloped area of land".

The bungalows would also "appear at odds" with the wider village, which is largely two-storey homes and "scattered in a more ad hoc fashion", whereas these would be built in a line along the road, they added.

Opting to refuse the application, NWLDC said: "[The development] would erode local distinctiveness by virtue of its inappropriate scale, design and layout."