Plans to build 90 homes on green belt land have been withdrawn.

Developers wanted to build the homes on the land adjacent to Ridgeside Stables in Penn Road, Hazlemere, which is within the green belt and in the Chiltern Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).

Dozens of objections were submitted, with some residents worried the current infrastructure of the village would be “unable to cope” with the development, and others saying it was “inappropriate” and “harmful” to the green belt.

And in an email chain, Nexus Planning, writing on behalf of the developers, said the council was planning to refuse the application “in part due to it comprising major development in the AONB”.

They wrote: “We are of the firm view that refusing this application on major development in the AONB ground would not only undermine and conflict with the approach the council has taken to the Stokenchurch allocation [the land south of Mill Road as in the Emerging Local Plan], but also fail to align with the conclusions of the council’s own evidence base in respect of AONB impacts associated with developing the wider site, where the council concludes an absence of specific adverse impacts.”

The council responded to say that while it accepted that the Hazlemere site was “marginally smaller” than the Stokenchurch site, with fewer units proposed, these were not the “determining factors” as to whether development is considered to be “major” in the AONB.

It wrote: “We therefore maintain our position that this application would constitute major development in the AONB, and that our assessment is entirely consistent with the approach we have already been taking when assessing sites previously.”

Nexus Planning then replied to the email to ask WDC to withdraw the application.