PLANS to demolish a house and replace it with a ‘contemporary’ home with ‘living green roofs’ have been rejected.

The proposals for the large plot in Panorama Road, Sandbanks, would have seen a two-storey, five-bedroom house on a plot ‘three times greater’ than the average in the road.

A design and access statement submitted to BCP Council by Chapman Lily Planning on behalf of the applicant said the new house is ‘of exceptional design’.

It said: “[It] will enhance the conservation area by lifting the architectural quality of new buildings within it and through better revealing aspects of its significance, such as restoring a characteristic ‘large dwelling’ to the site, but whilst emphasising its recessive character as a ‘building among the trees’.”

Bournemouth Echo: The proposed development is on the corner of the Sandbanks peninsula.

However, council planning officers rejected the plans, describing the new house as having an ‘unsympathetic design’.

The case officer’s report said: “The proposal, by reason of the demolition of the existing cottage, would result in the total loss of the non-designated heritage asset causing significant harm to the Sandbanks Conservation Area (SCA).

“Consequently, losing a positive building within the SCA to a single dwelling of an unsympathetic design is not considered a heritage or public benefit which could outweigh the harm to the significance of the conservation area.”

Officers also pointed to ‘insufficient information’ on the potential impacts on the protected trees on site.

“The applicant has failed to demonstrate that the development can be delivered without causing detrimental harm to the protected trees within the site,” the report said.

Bournemouth Echo: The house has been described as 'unsympathetic'.

The proposal had been met with support from neighbours, with comments left on the application describing the planned house as ‘beautiful’, and one that would ‘enhance and compliment’ the area.

One comment said: “What a fantastic thing to view whilst passing by in a boat or watercraft.

“Something that Sandbanks/Poole/Dorset and the UK for that matter should be extremely proud of to hopefully have one of the most prestigious builds/houses along our shores.”

Another added that the house would be an ‘iconic and striking highlight’ for the Sandbanks peninsula.

Alongside building the house, improvement works would have been carried out on the sea wall, while retaining an outbuilding, garage, boathouse and pavilion on the plot.