Plans to build five new homes on a field next to a pub in Llanrhystud used for a long time for the village’s weekly market and annual carnival have been refused by Ceredigion County Council planners.

Developers wanted to build the new “small scale” housing development on land next to The Black Lion and applied to Ceredigion County Council for outline planning permission for the project.

The land was used for years as the site for Llanrhystud market - which has not been held since the coronavirus pandemic – and other gatherings including vintage car club meetings and agriculture shows.

It has also served as overspill parking for the pub, weddings and funerals.

Planning documents said that the application site, which makes up half of the field, can accommodate five homes, including two affordable, which “will be in keeping with the existing format of the local area.”

The other half of the field will remain open public space, documents said.

The proposed dwellings “will not cause any adverse impacts for neighbouring properties in terms of privacy, noise and outlook,” applicants said, and the site is a “logical location to provide a housing development.”

One resident objection to the scheme was received, which raised concerns over highway safety, how services would be connected to the proposed development, surface water runoff, and impact of construction phase on nearby businesses.

Rejecting the plans under delegated powers last week, Ceredigion County Council planning officers said the development would “result in an incursion into the open countryside” and the “overly large, detached dwellings” would be “incongruous” to the “modestly sized terraced housing typically found in the historic core of Llanrhystud.”

Planners also said the scheme “would detrimentally impact the setting of the Grade II listed St Rhystud Church, and the Llanrhystud Conservation Area.”