A bid to build 40 new homes on a field at Needingworth, which brought stacks of objections from residents and the parish council, has been thrown out.

The scheme, off Church Street by Innerspace Homes Ltd, was rejected by planners at Huntingdonshire District Council (HDC).

Holywell-cum-Needingworth Parish Council "strongly" objected to plans to build the homes, landscaping, parking, cycle and refuse storage, a sustainable drainage system and an access off Mill Way, saying it contravened a range of planning policies and would cause "demonstrable harm" to most residents.

In a letter to the district council, parish clerk Jane Bowd said the proposed new homes would add to a cumulative effect on development in the village where the district had already approved a minimum of 202 new dwellings.

"This scale of development is not sustainable for a parish of our size which has few facilities and relies upon travel to St Ives for access to basic facilities such as health care and shops, hence its proposed and former designation as a smaller settlement," she said.

"Most policies dealing with development of this scale are aimed at town environments and HDC's own policies state that small settlements, such as Needingworth and Holywell, are not suitable for this type of expansion."

The district council received 111 comments, which included 82 objecting to the development and 24 in favour.

Residents had complained about the sheer impact of the scheme on the village because of its size, traffic, potential flooding and the "urban" design of the buildings which were out of keeping with the existing properties.

The district council's operations division said the developer should be providing on-site green space, yet there was only a thin strip of land showing on the master plan.

It said open space should, ideally, be in the centre of a development where it could be used by all. Developers had referred to the recreation field which children from the site would have to access by crossing a road.

The operations division had urged the development to be refused unless sufficient green space was located on site.

Cambridgeshire County Council's highways department said the development was smaller than the 50 house threshold and, as a result, was deemed not to have a significant impact on the surrounding road network.