Plans for 240 homes on the edge of Downham Market have been given the go-ahead.

Developer Albanside has been given outline planning permission to build on farmland off Bridle Way.

Wimbotsham Parish Council opposed the application. Its chair Jacqueline Squires told borough councillors that the development would have an unacceptable visual impact on the village and surrounding countryside.

The site is a hill, on which the development would be visible from Wimbotsham and across the Fens. There have also been objections on the grounds Downham's infrastructure cannot cope with more development.

But councillors heard that the new development would consist of 'high quality homes', 20pc of which would be affordable housing and the site would be screened by trees and bushes.

A report said the site could acommodate 240 houses 'without material harm to the visual amenity of the locality or neighbour amenity'. Members voted to approve the plans.