Maldon District Council (MDC) has refused an application to convert the former Anchor Guest House into two new homes on Church Street.

The proposed works included converting and altering the former guest house, at 7 Church Street, to form two dwellings, and extending the dwelling at 9 Church Street.

The report by MDC planning officers states: "As a result of the proposal, the site would accommodate a terrace of three dwelling houses - one two-bedroom house and two three-bedroom houses.

"The existing guest house use, which accommodates five bedrooms, would be lost."

Officers refused the application over concerns that it would be "detrimental to tourist provision, thereby harming the economy of the district".

In their report, they said: "Officers no longer consider that it has been demonstrated that there is no demand for the existing or an alternative tourism use of the property."

They cited the tourist provision currently available in Maldon, such as the Limes Guest House on Market Hill and the Travelodge next to Blackwater Retail Park, but added: "It cannot currently be concluded with confidence that the use of the premises for a tourism related use would not recommence if planning permission were refused for the development proposed."

The site currently accomodates a two-bedroom dwelling attached to a building which accommodated the guest house on the ground floor and a one-bedroom flat for the guest house manager on the first floor.

Officers called the proposed size of the gardens for the properties "inadequate" and said that they "would not provide an acceptable quality of life for the occupiers of the dwelling houses proposed".

Natural England advised that the site, which is near to the Blackwater Estuary, falls within the Zone of Influence (ZoI) for one or more of the European designated sites which fall under the Essex Coast Recreational Disturbance Avoidance and Mitigation Strategy [RAMS].

Officers also refused planning permission on the basis that "the necessary financial contribution" towards Essex Coast RAMS "had not been secured".

They said: "As a result, the development would have an adverse impact on the European designated nature conservation sites."

Maldon Town Council (MTC) had previously recommended approval of the proposal, after saying that it would "improve" the attractiveness of the current street scene.