PLANS to build 49 homes on old farmland in Johnstone have been rejected by Renfrewshire Council.

Turnberry Homes put forward proposals for a combination of detached, semi-detached and terraced housing at a site between Fordbank Avenue and Corseford Avenue.

A number of objections had already been raised with planning officers, spanning concerns such as traffic congestion in the area, levels of dust during construction and a saturation of housing putting a strain on local infrastructure.

In March, members of the council's former communities, housing and planning policy board delayed a decision on the proposals so a site visit could take place.

However, councillors were left unconvinced by the blueprint when it was discussed at a meeting of the new planning and climate change policy board this week, despite a recommendation by officials to grant permission, subject to a raft of conditions.

Council leader Iain Nicolson expressed his belief that the site was “capable of housing to some extent” but added that the application in question would lead to “overdevelopment.”

Councillor John Hood cited traffic concerns in that particular area of Johnstone, which has Fordbank Primary and Corseford School in the vicinity, as he moved to refuse the application.

He said: “Down the bottom, you’ve got that really, really bad turn there and there’s buses coming up there left, right and centre just now.

“School times are an absolute nightmare coming out there.”

In addition to an “unacceptable impact on the local road network,” councillors agreed to reject the application on the basis of ecological and overdevelopment reasons.