Plans to build three bungalows in a woodland put forward by a Dubai-linked developer have been rejected after trees were “annihilated”.

MMDM Developments Limited was refused planning permission for its controversial blueprint for new houses in a woodland at Fieldhead Gardens, Bourne End.

The rejection of the plans for “detached dormer bungalows and ancillary works” followed more than 60 letters of objection from residents.

The plans would “result in the partial loss and fragmentation of a protected woodland and a designated green space”, Buckinghamshire Council said in its decision to refuse the application.

It said this would be “to the detriment of the visual amenities of the street scene and the environmental qualities of the immediate locality”.

The council added that the plan would “place future pressures on protected trees to be retained” and would likely result in the “continued erosion of the woodland character of the site”.

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MMDM has been approached for comment. The developer can now appeal the decision with the Secretary of State.

Two previous appeals against the council’s refusal to grant permission for homes to be built on the site were dismissed.

MMDM’s website says it offers “services to developers, corporate bodies and homeowner associations in London, Dubai and Dublin”.

The developer’s design statement for the bungalows contained limited detail about what the new bungalows would be like.

A section of it read: “There is nothing uncommon, or unusual, in principle, about building, or living in, new dwellings in proximity to mature trees.

“Some of the greatest houses in the world are built amongst, (and deliberately in close proximity to), mature trees.”

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MMDM sparked controversy among neighbours living near the woodland after swathes of trees there were felled in what local residents dubbed a “full-blown chainsaw massacre” and a “devastating annihilation”.

The felling of trees even triggered one woman’s post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and left her unable to sleep, she told the BBC Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The site is classified as Green Space, is protected by a Woodland Tree Preservation Order and is a designated BAP(Biodiversity Action Plan) Priority Habitat, meaning it requires conservation action.

The Planning Inspector “did not consider that there would be harm to ecology” from the plans, although any trees felled without permission would be required to be replaced under the terms of the TPO.

But despite this, the actual and future loss of trees was a concern mentioned by several residents living near the site, “who purchased their properties for pleasing views of the trees”.

Mrs J Millington said she was concerned about the impact on Pipistrelle bats, badgers, the Greater Stag Beetle, hedgehogs and birds of conservation concern, such as the Red Kite.

She accused the applicant of “having already massacred trees, pummelled the ground with crude tracked machinery that smashed saplings to the ground and dragged gigantic tree trunks with chains across the woodland, with no thought whatsoever for damaging wildlife”.