A children's charity has pulled out of creating a new children's home in a Norfolk village after coming under pressure from residents, a Norfolk councillor has said.

Break had been granted planning permission from Broadland District Council to turn a property in Brick Kiln Road, Hevingham from a private house into a children's home.

But Hevingham parish councillor Paul Carrick said that the charity had backed out of turning the village's old store into a care home after 'pressure' from residents.

The planning application passed through the council with no objections from highways and support from Hevingham Parish Council.

But 18 residents lodged objections.

These objections included loss of privacy, impact upon character of the area and loss of value to property.

Despite residents' objections Broadland Council said 'there were no planning considerations on which to turn it down'.

Another objection was on lack of facilities in the village, a point that Mr Carrick refuted.

He said: 'The village has loads of things for children coming into the village to benefit from. We have a fantastic community centre and youth groups that would have been able to welcome the new children coming into the area.

'These children have had to come into the care of Break because they have been in danger. These children could have had good start in our village but I'm gutted that residents have put this pressure on Break.

'These children would have to be looked after around the clock and probably had more support than many of the residents' own children.

'I was actually looking forward to welcoming the children to the village.'

The children's home would have housed four children in what was previously the village's store.

Hilary Richards, Break chief executive, said: 'There are many different issues that we have to consider when we are trying to establish a suitable location for one of our children's homes, balancing the needs of the vulnerable children and young people we support and those of the wider community.

'After taking many factors into account, we have decided to withdraw our application in this instance.'