Plans to demolish one house and build two in a prestigious Berkhamsted street have been thrown out.
A meeting of Dacorum Borough Council's development control committee turned the scheme down after hearing a plea to 'not set another damaging precedent in Meadway'.
Councillors decided the scheme represented overdevelopment and one of the homes wo
uld be too close to a neighbouring property.
Meadway resident Larry Lamb told the meeting: "This is both discordant and harmful to neighbours.
"I ask you not to set another damaging precedent in Meadway."
The property, Pantiles, has been the subject of a previous planning application that was withdrawn because of objections to design and positioning.
The latest application hoped to build one six-bedroom home for the current owners of Pantiles and a second larger 'more prestigious' house.
Mr Lamb claimed the house would have a 'likely price tag of £1.5million'.
Meadway has been the subject of a number of similar developments in the past while the issue of infill homes has raised temperatures in Berkhamsted.
Committee chairman Richard Roberts said: "Where very large houses are built close together, and we see this in Meadway now, it's almost like houses on steroids.
"There are seven houses within four metres of each other. This layout was originally spacious and that has been eroded.
"Here you have absolutely maxed out what you can put on a site."
Councillors, going against the advice of officers to grant approval, voted to refuse the plans.
The full article contains 250 words and appears in n/a newspaper.
