The housing secretary has refused permission for a 165-home Berkeley Homes scheme in Kent despite a planning inspector recommending it be given a green light.

Berkeley Homes had planned to build 165 homes in an area of outstanding natural beauty (AONB) in the Crane Valley, near Tunbridge Wells, along with car parking and landscaping.

The homes would have been a mix of one and two bedroom apartments, and houses ranging from two to five bedrooms, in mainly two storey buildings .A range of terraced, semi-detached and detached forms were proposed.