Plans for an intensive rabbit meat farm in a Bucks Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty have been thrown out.

Phil Kerry submitted plans to build a temporary rural worker’s house and agricultural building on land in Magpie Lane, in Coleshill, near Amersham.

The house would have allowed a worker to be on site as a 250-doe, free-range rabbit production unit, occupying around two acres of the site, was developed over the next three years.

Mr Kerry told BBC Three Counties radio last month that there was a “huge demand” for rabbit meat, after more than 87,000 people signed a petition calling for the plans to be thrown out.

There were also hundreds of objections submitted to the official plans online.

Bucks Council’s planning officers said in a letter dated May 11 that they were refusing the plans, writing: “The applicant has not presented an adequate case to establish why the business must be located on this land, and why a more suitable, less-constrained site was not chosen.

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“Alternatively, it has not been demonstrated that there is a demand for this proposal in this location.

“Notwithstanding the economic benefits of the scheme, these are not considered to outweigh the harm identified.

“Consequently, the proposal constitutes inappropriate development in the Green Belt, which is harmful by definition.”

They also said the “clutter of buildings and associated fencing, hutches, pens, lighting, access track and removal of hedgerow would not conserve or enhance the special landscape character of this protected area”, adding that the proposed house and agricultural building, along with the” associated paraphernalia necessary for this business” would be “highly visible in the landscape”.

Planning officers added that the ecological information submitted was “inadequate to allow for the satisfactory assessment of the proposal’s impact on ecology and wildlife, in particular, protected species”.

The plans were also condemned by Marlow resident and animal lover Ricky Gervais who backed the petition and branded the proposals “outrageous”, as well as campaign group Animal Aid.

Last month, Rebecca Nicholson, who lives in the village and set up the petition, spoke to Mr Kerry on BBC Three Counties Radio about the issue, saying she did not believe “rabbits are meat”.

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She told presenter Andy Collins: “In this day and age with so many people becoming vegetarian or vegan, there just isn’t a demand for [rabbit meat].”

But Mr Kerry rubbished her claims, saying there is a “huge demand” for the meat.

He said: “Since the petition and the exposure we’ve had in the press in recent weeks, we’ve had more enquiries for rabbit meat than we’ve had in the past three or four years.

“The rabbit you get in pet shops are completely different to those bred for meat. That is incorrect that they’re not suitable for meat. They were bred for meat going back to medieval times, in fact.”

To see the full reasons for refusal, visit www.chiltern.gov.uk/viewplanningapplications with reference PL/21/0130/FA.