OUTRAGED councillors rebelled against their own council policy as they rejected a controversial development next to a landfill site.

Vale of White Horse District Council's planning committee thwarted Redrow's plan to build 200 homes in Sutton Courtenay, despite the site's inclusion in the council's own official development document.

Councillors argued the site's location next to a waste facility posed 'disgraceful' contamination risks, siding with villagers who have fought hard against the proposed homes off Hobbyhorse Lane.

A majority of six councillors to five rebuffed the application during a dramatic meeting on Wednesday night, despite the fact that the same land is pegged for up to 220 homes in the council's Local Plan. 

The shock decision conflicted planning officers' recommendation and prompted an official 'cooling off period', which gives council leader Matthew Barber power to bring the application back to committee.

Committee members questioned why the site was ever approved by the planning inspector to appear in the Local Plan, slating health risks, poor access and confusion over land ownership. 

Speaking at The Beacon in Wantage, councillor Stuart Davenport said: "If this plan was in my patch, I would be apoplectic with rage. The whole decision is based on the fact this has gone through part one of the Local Plan and that is not satisfactory. 

"We are not going to be battered into accepting this. We should send them [the developer] away with fear in their ear."

Villagers in Sutton Courtenay employed their own expert whose drainage report conflicted Redrow's own.

Councillor Bob Johnston said: "We have two disputing professional opinions - I believe the objector’s."

Sutton Courtenay district councillor Gervase Duffield showed the committee videos of methane gas bubbling in a puddle immediately next to the site, which he said is also prone to flooding. 

Councillor Catherine Webber said: "Conditions state that houses would have to have gas-proof membrane and a trench [around them]. These seem extreme conditions. It's a disgraceful site."

Council officers attempted to appease concerns, stressing that many issues could be dispelled at a later stage.

They suggested the committee could instead defer the application pending more evidence, but six councillors voted instead to reject it against five who voted to defer.

Their decision prompted delighted cheers from Sutton Courtenay residents, who packed audience benches and delivered impassioned speeches against the development.

The council's development manager has ordered an immediate 'cooling off period', which Mr Barber must agree with or disagree with.

Agreeing would mean the application could go back to committee to be reconsidered, in which case the subsequent decision would be final, while to disagree would allow the committee's decision to stick. 

Speaking after the meeting, Sutton Courtenay county councillor Richard Webber said it would be a 'slap in the face' for villagers if Mr Barber overturned the decision. 

He said the council could face hefty costs if Redrow wanted to appeal the decision. 

Anne Morgan-Smith, who is among villagers leading the campaign against the development, said: "We have been working hard towards this result for a long time, countering the developer arguments again and again. 

"It is right that the application was refused by the planning committee.

"We now will have to see what the development manager's intervention means."

A spokesperson for Redrow said it would be too 'premature' to comment.