A bid to demolish a house and derelict outbuildings and replace them with a two-storey home has been refused for being "significantly greater in scale". 

The applicant, known as Mr R Morrissey, hoped to tear down a house and associated outbuildings in "poor condition" on a property near Dereham and replace them with a two-storey house.

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His plans for the site, on land south of Norwich Road near Yaxham, also included details for new garaging, a driveway and amenity space.

He hoped the new house would accommodate his family, however Breckland Council, which refused the plans, believed the development was "significantly greater in scale" and the plans would remove a "historic feature from the rural landscape".

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It argued the current building is 192.5 square metres and that the proposed plans, including the garage, would be double that. 

Simon Wood, Breckland's director of planning and building control, said: "The proposed replacement dwelling by way of its height, scale, form, width and design is not similar to the existing dwelling nor is it considered sensitive to its rural countryside setting being a traditional farmstead complex."