PLANS for a dementia care home in Effingham have been quashed for a second time.
An application for the 60-bed facility on land beside Church Street and Lower Road was rejected under delegated powers, meaning council officers rejected the plans without them going to committee.
A Guildford Borough Council report stated that the Minton Group's application was "inappropriate and harmful" due to the site being green belt land and surrounded by listed buildings.
It is the second time plans for a care home on the site have been refused after a previous application by the Minton Group was rejected by councillors last May.
Reacting to the news, Effingham resident Kevin Ladywell told the Advertiser: "This whole thing was a fool's errand from the start and hopefully this latest setback will see them leave our village alone for good. Effingham is not necessarily against the idea of a care home but the fact is that these developers could not have chosen a more inappropriate site in the whole of Surrey.
"It is green belt land, it is surrounded by a 14th century church and a 17th century shooting lodge, and is in Church Street, a road that hasn't been built on in decades. They have wasted their time, our time and the council's time with this."
The council received 89 letters of objection to the plans, compared to six in support, despite developers appealing to residents for a need for a dementia facility in the area.
The council officers' report said: "The plans represent inappropriate development which is by definition, harmful to the green belt."
The report added: "Furthermore, by virtue of its height, depth, site coverage, scale, mass and associated car parking and access, the development would represent a gross overdevelopment of the site.
"The proposed development would be in close proximity to a number of Grade II listed buildings. Due to the large footprint, height, site coverage and proximity to the boundaries of the site, the proposed building would adversely impact on the setting of these historic buildings."
A spokesman for Minton Group told the Advertiser it would not be making a comment.