Developers have come back from the drawing board with fresh plans to build on a paddock near an East Hampshire beauty spot.

Metis Homes want to build 40 homes on three hectares of grazing land north of Chalk Hill Road in Horndean.

It’s been nearly a decade since outline plans for 50 homes on the site bordering Catherington Lith were rejected by East Hampshire District Council.

But now a different firm is trying its luck, with fewer homes and more open space being put forward.

The development includes 24 open market homes and ten social, affordable or intermediate rental properties.

Six will be set aside for “affordable home ownership” with three and four-bedroom homes accounting for half the open market housing proposed.

Access is proposed from Highcroft Lane with most of the housing concentrated around a central loop, and the eastern third of the site being open space with a play trail and meadows.

The applicants say the layout will create a scheme that’s “rich in character” in an “ecologically diverse landscape setting” while providing much-needed market and affordable housing.

Locals aren’t so keen with more than 100 objections being raised and counting amid concerns about the urbanisation of a semi-rural site and the loss of green space and biodiversity.

Concerns have also been raised about the impact of more housing on narrow local roads and services, infrastructure and already-oversubscribed local surgeries.

For more information about the development and to comment, type 55505 into the search applications browser at https://shorturl.at/OdyBp