The scheme, to the south of Hempstead Lane and the west of Gleneagles Drive, was passed at a meeting on Friday.

Little more than a year ago, Wealden's planning committee had refused a bid for outline permission, saying the site could cope with no more than 70 houses.

However, developers Gleeson Homes successfully appealed in September and the scheme was brought back to Wealden on Friday to hammer out the details of the plan.

During an hour-long discussion, members of Wealden's planning committee said they were distinctly unimpressed with the design and layout of the houses.

Local district councillor Ian Haffenden described the layout as 'unimaginative, repetitive, boring and monotonous'.

The main debate centred around the retention of a specimen cherry tree, which the applicant agreed could be retained, and the fact one of the proposed buildings was a two-and-a-half storey block of flats, which both the town and district councils had wanted to restrict to no more than two storeys.

However, these concerns were overriden by a general backing of the scheme and the majority of its details and councillors voted 7-2 in favour of the plans.