Leave our village and homes alone!That was the defiant message from one picturesque Broadland community yesterday after villagers rejected plans to place their homes in a conservation zone.

Leave our village and homes alone!

That was the defiant message from one picturesque Broadland community yesterday after villagers rejected plans to place their homes in a conservation zone.

For several years controversy has slowly rumbled in Stokesby, near Yarmouth, over a scheme by the Broads Authority to protect the historic look of a large part of the riverside village.

But on Tuesday night in what was described as a landslide victory, 62pc of residents voted against the zone plans because they feared it would create another layer of planning bureaucracy.

It is now hoped that the resounding no vote at the public meeting will scupper the conservation area

plans even though some villagers had suggested the idea in the first place.

If introduced by the Broads Authority, the conservation zone would mean villagers would need extra permission to knock down or extend buildings, put up satellite dishes and lop or chop down trees.

At the packed special parish council-organised meeting, 85 residents voted against the

plans while 53 said they were in favour.

Stokesby Parish Council will now discuss the no vote and abandoning the conservation zone next week and will then pass on its final decision to the Broads Authority.