OUTRAGED resident Brian Highe has branded the council planning process undemocratic after a rectory was built near his home in a conservation area.

OUTRAGED resident Brian Highe has branded the council planning process undemocratic after a rectory was built near his home in a conservation area.

Mr Highe, of Church Lane, Princes Risborough, is appalled at the new St Mary's Church rectory, Church Lane, which he says 'must be one of the ugliest new buildings in the town'.

He has written to Wycombe District Council because he believes the feelings of Church Lane residents were ignored by councillors and planners after a public consultation two years ago.

Building work on the new rectory was completed in May.

Mr Highe said: 'There was not any attempt by any of our local representatives to discuss it with us. And, at the planning committee meeting, our representative was given three minutes to voice our objections.

'In a supposedly democratic society we weren't asked for our opinions. All our efforts came to nothing and the result clashes horrendously with the vernacular architecture.'

The chairman of Wycombe District Council David Cox, who was not chairman when the plans were passed, wrote to Mr Highe and said: 'The result, I have to say, is, in my opinion everything you say in your letter.'

David Allworth, chairman of Princes Risborough Town Council, said Mr Highe said he thought the plot of land had been improved by the new building.