PLANS for more than 50 new houses to be built on the site of a former college in Chesham have been rejected.

Proposals for 52 new homes - 21 of which would have been affordable housing units - on land vacated by Amersham and Wycombe College in Lycrome Road were turned down by members of Chiltern District Council's planning committee on Thursday.

A total of ten reasons for refusal were given to developers Cala Homes by members of the committee.

Councillors ruled the size, scale and design of the houses would "constitute a cramped form of development that would relate poorly to the neighbouring built-up area" and would be detrimental to the immediate and wider area".

They also said the height of some of the buildings would make them visually imposing on neighbouring properties that are already there.

And they added the number of vehicles that would access the site would adversely affect traffic on Ashley Green Road - the main A416 road on to Berkhamsted.

It was also noted that no report looking at the impact on Great Crested Newts had been submitted to the committee, which is a legal requirement.

The proposals had included a sports field with new changing rooms for Chesham Athletic FC, which currently uses the site.

Originally the plans were for 60 homes but this was reduced to 52 following consultation with residents. Of these, 21 were affordable two bedroom maisonettes for the over 55s and the remaining 31 would all be houses consisting of four or more bedrooms.

The site had been earmarked for development as long ago as 2010 but it took until March this year for a formal planning application to be submitted. It has been disused as an educational establishment by Amersham and Wycombe College since last year.