Plans for 18 new homes in a village adjacent to one of the A47's most dangerous junctions have been refused.

Developers asked Breckland District Council's planning committee yesterday to approve their proposed homes to be built on land off Heath Road in Hockering, close to Dereham.

But the houses – seven of which would be affordable – were met with opposition at the meeting and were recommended for councillors to reject them.

Hockering Parish Council said they 'unanimously oppose' the application which is outside of the settlement boundary because of an 'seriously imbalanced' community mix.

According to councillors the imbalance would come from an even greater disparity between the number of low-cost housing and properties which could help support the local services, such as the school, shop, bus and pub.

Breckland councillor Paul Claussen said the homes, many of which would have two-bedrooms, would 'destroy' the local school because families would move out of the village once they had outgrown their homes.

Councillor Gordon Bambridge echoed Mr Claussen and said the plans would create 'an unstable population' in the village.

He said: 'Hockering doesn't need two-bedroom houses, it needs bigger houses.

'We need our young families not to move away but to stay and to use the local school.

'I think we need to consider very hard what and where we develop in Hockering.'

The entrance to the proposed site would be on a road popular with HGVs which leads on to a turning off the A47 that has been prolific for accidents.