Barchester Health Care is hoping to build two single-storey buildings at Hickathrift House, on Smeeth Road, to provide care and independent living accommodation for adults with mental and physical disabilities.

The application has been made in response to a perceived lack of such services in the area and the facility will accompany the elderly people's care home at Hickathrift House.

A letter written by the architects for the scheme states: "The facility is conceived in response to local demand, would serve to generate local employment while not placing significant extra demand on infrastructure.

"It would be complementary to the existing nursing home in terms of service provision and would be architecturally unobtrusive in townscape terms, while being complementary to the existing buildings on the site."

But the scheme has been recommended for refusal ahead of West Norfolk Council's development control board meeting today.

A report to members states the scheme is an "unsustainable form of development" as it is sited on the edge of a small village in a remote and relatively inaccessible location.

The council has also received 17 letters from local residents which raise a number of concerns including claims the development is too large for the size of the village and fears about an increase in traffic.