A plan to knock down a bungalow next to the Beech House Hotel on the A4 Bath Road in Southcote and build five luxury four‑bed homes has been rejected.
The landowner submitted the bid in March last year; sketches even showed a Porsche and a Lamborghini outside the houses.
An agent argued the homes would be Georgian in style, sustainable, family-sized and a more efficient use of the land than the bungalow.
Reading Borough Council refused the scheme amid concerns it would overdevelop the plot and leave too little garden space for future residents.
Planning officer Anthony Scoles wrote: "The proposed development would result in significant harm to neighbouring properties and fail to provide
a suitable level of amenity for proposed residents, and has failed to demonstrate that the proposal would not result in impacts on amenity, or provide suitable amenity within gardens for proposed residents."
The landowner appealed to the planning inspectorate. Inspector Brian Sims found no design issues and said the scheme would fit the area's character, but he upheld the council's reasons for refusal and dismissed the appeal.
The decision was reported to the council's planning applications committee on April 29.
Mark Worringham, the council's planning policy manager, wrote: "This is a pleasing decision.
"The inspector upheld reasons for refusal relating to privacy and overlooking, as well as overshadowing of neighbouring development, the failure to demonstrate no net loss of biodiversity and unsuitable information to enable determination of a mandatory net gain, and a failure to enter into a legal agreement for off-site affordable housing."
Both the landowner's and the council's applications for costs were rejected.
You can view the refused application under reference PL/25/0350 on the council planning portal. The council separately approved application PL/25/1631 to convert the Beech House Hotel into a nursery earlier this year.
James Aldridge, Local Democracy Reporter
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