Proposals for 70 homes to be built  on the northern edge of Malmesbury have been refused.

And the developer Bloor Homes has been told to rethink the layout and design of the homes it wants to put on a parcel of land south of Filands, and to better co-ordinate it with plans for houses on the next-door plot.

The developer already has outline permission for the development of 70 houses on the land south of the B4104.

But members of Wiltshire Council’s planning committee did not think the design of the houses, and the lay out, broadly in two parallel rows of detached and semi-detached houses was good enough.

The report of the committee’s deliberations said: “With respect to specific elements of the site layout especially landscaping the proposals are not considered to be in full accord with the design parameters of the outline permission. The proposals are also not considered to achieve the highest quality of design in respect of place shaping,”

The committee said it would like to see Bloor Homes deal with this application site and the plot of land directly to the south of it as one.

Bloor Homes was given permission on appeal to build a nursery school for the area as well as more houses on the southern site earlier this year. It has not yet submitted any details plans for the land.

But Wiltshire Council wished the company would. It said: “The site has been dealt with independently from the “southern” parcel – the adjoining land immediately to the south of the application site the development of which has been allowed at appeal

 “As part of consideration of this application the applicant has been repeatedly encouraged to address the two sites jointly and together following previous recommendations in respect of applications submitted on the southern parcel site.

“The applicant has steadfastly refused to do so and maintains that it is neither necessary nor appropriate as the sites can be appropriately laid out and development integrated whilst pursuing the sites separately.”

The council added: “Addressing the two parcels together and as a single development now both are consented in principle would allow for greater continuity in layout, greater efficiency, better use of space and siting of supporting facilities and infrastructure. That has not taken place and as a consequence an opportunity is lost and the highest quality of design cannot be said to be fully achieved.”