Plans for homes at the back of a village pub have been rejected – for the seventh time.

The plans, submitted by Cordage 44 Limited, would have seen two detached homes with parking and landscaping built at the back of the Six Bells pub, in Felsham.

Six similar applications have been produced for the site with varied changes each time, five of which have been refused, one which has been withdrawn. Of the six, three appeals were dismissed by the planning inspectorate.

The previous refusal, on April 14 last year, was on the grounds of harm to the character of the conservation area after 44 objections, six more than the latest application.

On Wednesday, February 14, members of Mid Suffolk’s planning committee, decided to once again refuse the application in line with officer recommendations.

The committee’s report stated the development would harm the character, quality, and positive contribution of the area to the existing built environment of the village.

Cllr Simon Garrod, Felsham Parish Council’s chairman, said: “We are in need of housing in Felsham, but this cannot be at the cost of our valuable and vulnerable green spaces in the heart of the village.”

“It seems we keep copying and pasting our objections.”

Several other concerns were raised during the meeting, however, particularly to do with road safety, due to the lack of visibility between the proposed access and the road, and the impact on the conservation area’s heritage.

Although heritage and highway assessments raised no objections this time around, these have been topics of concern during previous applications, with a planning inspectorate appeal from November 2022 indicating the development did not outweigh the harm to heritage assets.

In light of this, councillors have also asked for the heritage and road safety impacts of the development to be reassessed.

There are currently two appeals lodged by the applicant, one relating to April of last year’s refusal, and another regarding this month’s due to the council taking too long to bring the application before members of the committee.

Despite the constant refusals, however, Nicholas Panayi, a resident who objects to the proposals, said he feared the applicant would continue to apply.

He said: “We haven’t heard the last of it and there’s still an appeal outstanding on the last application — the applicant is never going to give up.”