The curtain has come down on plans to give showpeople a permanent home in a former sandpit quarry near Bordon.

Plans to create a 12-plot site off the A325 at Sleaford have been rejected by East Hampshire District Council amid environmental concerns.

The change of use application by Matt Williams on behalf of Mr Comley sought to create the permanent plots for specifically-named travelling showpeople, who would move from existing yards in Headley Down.

Each plot on the 2.9 hectare Bordon sandpit site off Picketts Hill would consist of one mobile home and a touring caravan.

The proposals also included hardstanding, parking and an amenity area, along with an area for the storage of vehicles and equipment used by occupants during the show season.

Access was proposed from Picketts Hill via Heidelberg’s concrete batching plant with the firm, formerly called Hanson, agreeing to arrangements.

But the site’s location within the 400 metre buffer zone of the Wealden Heaths Special Protection Area (SPA), meant the scheme prompted an objection from Natural England with EHDC ultimately sharing their concerns.

“It is widely recognised that additional housing development, particularly within 400m of the boundary of the SPA, has the potential to adversely affect its interest features, namely nightjar, woodlark and Dartford warbler, which are the three internationally rare bird species for which it is classified,” said a spokesperson.

EHDC believe the development will have a “significant adverse effect” on nearby commons with the sandpit area also being a designated Site of Importance for Nature Conservation.

An officer said: “The proposal by reason of its scale, layout and the proposed use would result in significant harm to the ecological value of the site.”

Planners also felt the extensive hard surfacing proposed would result in habitat loss and would create an “intrusive urbanising form of development”.