A bid to build 45 homes on land off Lady Lane and >> has been turned down after Babergh planners admitted they were constrained by its own policy.

While the 10 planning committee members were supportive of the scheme, which would have seen the demolition of three disused buildings, and included 15 affordable homes, Place Farm Developments had not shown they had sufficiently marketed the land, which is allocated for employment.

A spokesman for the developer, argued at the meeting that marketing the land for employment use would be 'fruitless'. He said: "The realistic prospect of using this as employment land is zero, as it has been for the past 20 years."

Councillor Lee Parker said: "I really want to support this application, but our hands are tied.

"The applicant may say it's not worth his while doing this exercise, but that means we haven't got the evidence in front of us to make that decision."

Cllr Mary McLaren aired her concerns that the site, which councillors recently visited, would continue to be 'an eyesore' and added: "This is not a very attractive site and if we do not approve building houses here then it will continue to be a dead end site."

None of the three Hadleigh ward members were at the planning meeting to represent the town 's residents.

The planning committee accepted the recommendation of planning officer Catherine Hale, who cited the site's allocation as employment land in the draft joint local plan, and pointed out there was insufficient evidence to demonstrate it could not be retained for this purpose.