Plans to demolish a former furniture factory to make way for 32 flats have been turned down.

The application to bulldoze the disused JC and MP Smith factory in Princes Gate, High Wycombe, was submitted to Wycombe District Council earlier this year.

But planning bosses have refused the application as its size "fails to reflect and respect the local urban or rural context" and is not "compatible with the immediate surroundings of the site".

Officers added the development would be "dominated by an over-scaled, bland and uninteresting block".

The plans included 18 two-bedroom flats and one with three bedrooms, along with 13 sociably affordable flats and maisonettes in place of the factory.

Previous proposals to demolish the derelict building in order to make way for housing were turned down in 2010, after JC and MP Smith moved to new premises in Spring Gardens.

A total of 14 letters of objection were received by the council.