Plans for two large houses behind a historic Wye Valley riverside pub have been turned down, after a storm of protest from residents – including over the very narrow access lane where a fire engine was held up last year.

The bid by GN Developments of Coleford, Gloucestershire, was for the sloping grounds of Wye Vale, across the lane behind Symonds Yat West’s 15th Century Ye Olde Ferrie Inn.

The scheme was to replace a previously granted permission for an eco-house and detached garage on the former garden site, with two close-set but separate four-bedroom homes, road access and parking for up to eight cars.

But more than 20 residents sent objections to planners over the scheme, saying the access road was inadequate and the development unsuitable for an AONB.

Next door neighbour Stuart Wyle said his house had almost burnt down last year owing to parked cars blocking the fire engine from getting through the narrow lane.

He said he was ‘shocked’ that even the original scheme had got through “based on the lack of infrastructure in the area”, the roads “falling apart” and water leaks “every other week”.

“With Symonds Yat West only having a single track road, it seems we are forever having to reverse to allow cars to pass,” he said.

“The area is overdeveloped already and sticking two houses on this plot is ridiculous.

“After this, what is next? Bulldoze the Ferrie Inn to build flats?

“This is an AONB and should be respected and manitaned as such, which this develeopment doesn’t do, it’s simply a money making exercise.

“These houses would fit perfectly into Sandbanks in Dorset, but not Symonds Yat West.”

Kelly Dickinson told Herefordshire Council planners the building site and passage of trucks would cause “disruption and damage” to the lane, while the homes would be an “eyesore… not in keeping with the AONB architecture style”.

Wye Canoes and Wye Adventure manager Sara Watkins added: “I am objecting to the application, the area needs to be updated, the water mains, the wastage and the access road around Symonds Yat West.

“How can you allow more homes/holiday lets, businesses to be built if the area already needs updating?”

The application said the grassland site had “far reaching” views of the Wye Valley, and sedum “green” roofs would be employed on both the homes and their integral garages, “allowing them to blend into the landscape when viewed from above”, while upper-storey walls would be timber-clad.

The proposal would have “increased the self sustainability” by installing air source heat pumps and solar panels, while maintaining the same number of buildings as the approved scheme, within the newly defined settlement boundary of Symonds Yat, it claimed.

But the plan drew 24 individual objections, while Whitchurch and Ganarew Group Parish Council said the two houses so close together would not be in keeping with the village’s “relatively low-density cluster of dwellings”.

It was also concerned about “the very steep access” to the proposed properties, and about the impact of the extra traffic “on such a narrow and already overcrowded lane”.

Welsh Water said the increased water demand from the properties would “exacerbate the situation and adversely affect our service to our existing customers”, and therefore considered the proposal “premature”.

Herefordshire Council planners concluded the plan was “not sympathetic to the local character”, “represented an unacceptable overdevelopment” and “failed to conserve or enhance the landscape of the Wye Valley area of outstanding beauty”.

The proposal lacked an up-to-date ecological assessment and bat survey for its sensitive location, the council said, and also cited Welsh Water’s objection among its reasons for refusing the plan.