WINCHESTER planners have approved replacing one home with five in a leafy lane in Kings Worthy.

The planning committee approved the scheme that will see five homes built at Hill Top, off Mount Pleasant.

Hazeley Developments will now knock down the bungalow and built three two-bedroom dwellings and two four-bedroom homes on the plot.

The council received nine letters of objection criticising the scheme as over-development, being out of character and breaching the Springvale local Area Design Statement.

There is a growing number of pedestrians as the lane is used for access to the nearby new Dell development.

But Nick Culhane, council traffic engineer, said: “The new residents will learn to be cautious. Traffic volumes will continue to be low.”

Local ward member Robert Johnston opposed the plan saying it threatened the “quiet, bucolic” nature of Mount Pleasant, a gravel track.

But Cllr Eileen Berry said: “Every village, hamlet will always want to keep things as it is. But is there was no development then villages and hamlets would die.”

Cllr Kim Gottlieb was concerned about the density. “Two or three new homes would be okay. But five is too much. It is a quart into a pint pot,” he told the planning committee.

He was almost a lone voice and the scheme was approved by ten votes to two.