PLANS for an exclusive £7.5million development in Inkberrow have been given the thumbs up by the village's parish council.

Developer Laing Homes has been granted full planning permission for the 16 four and five-bedroom detached houses.

Named Barley Meadows, the company claims the houses are contemporary but sympathetically designed and will blend in with their surroundings.

They will be built on a greenfield site on former agricultural land.

The land backs onto a tree-lined conservation area, between the village's primary school and a new health centre, currently being built on land donated by George Wimpey.

Sales and marketing director Roger Northam said the development had been met with approval by planners, councillors and locals alike because it would bring much-needed new housing stock to the area.

And Inkberrow Parish Council clerk Janet Cresswell said when the council was asked to comment on the planning application, as they were with all applications, they had only suggested a few minor amendments which had been looked at.

"I think that overall the village will benefit by development - young families will come into the village so it can't be a bad thing," she said.

"I have had no complaints from anybody so one assumes everybody thinks it's good for the village, it's good for the shop and for the school - it keeps villages alive."