Plans for a former piggery were refused after a resident's plea swayed the application against it.

The former site in Ashford cannot be used in its former capacity as the stench of rearing pigs is considered unacceptable in a residential area. But an application to build housing on it was also considered unacceptable after a tense debate at Spelthorne Council's planning committee on Wednesday, April 30.

Derek Barter, of Oxford Close, Ashford, spoke out against the plans, saying the application for six flats and a bungalow at the Ashford Road site, which would have seen the piggery and an exisiting bungalow replaced, had already been refused and the redesigns failed to address previous wrongs.

Mr Barter said: "This whole development is just a cynical attempt to maximise profit.

"If there is going to be profiteering by increasing the pedestrian and vehicle population on my doorstep, will the profit pay towards a pedestrian crossing on the A308 School Road junction so that residents and their children can cross the road safely?"

An independent surveyor backed Mr Barter's arguments, saying the plans failed to offer adequate parking for a location that was not well served by public transport and cut off from nearby amenities.

Access to the bungalow at the rear would be by foot only and residents would have to drag rubbish to a front communal area.

Councillor Robin Sider said: "It could have been a decent development if they were not trying to cram everything in."

Chairman John O'Hara and planning member Coun Gerald Forsbrey expressed concern that the committee were bound by law to pass the designs despite their personal misgivings.

However, after a debate the planning board found it had grounds to refuse the application on the basis of incoherent over-development.