A council has approved an amended planning application for 50 houses in Langham.

Members of Rutland County Council planning committee heard at a meeting on Tuesday 22 August that the planned 20 metre landscape buffer between the development of the new houses and existing neighbouring properties was to be reduced to just 10 metres.

Outline permission for the 50 new properties on the 9.3 acre site off Cold Overton Road had previously been approved in 2022.

But objections were received from neighbouring properties and the parish council to the developers proposal for a 10-metre landscaped buffer zone, and the original application had therefore been approved with a 20-metre buffer zone.

However, developers Langton Homes, argued that would reduce the open space available between the new properties resulting in a cramped development.

At the meeting, members heard from Andrew Waskett-Burt, planning officer, said the original zone came from a draft version of the Langham Neighbourhood Plan, and the final version does not specify a distance. He also said parish council objections on the lack of privacy and biodiversity were not part of the planning conditions.

Chartered town planner, Chris Green, on behalf of the applicants, said the area would be public open space and that the applicant felt the 20-metre buffer was "overly excessive".

Members voted by majority (seven for, one abstention) to approve the variation to the original application and reduce the buffer zone from 20 metres to 10.