Councillors have rejected plans for a farm for special needs children on green belt land.

Planning officers had given the nod to the retrospective application for SweetTree Fields on Marsh Lane, which would have allowed the site to continue to be used as a “care farm” to educate people with special needs and mental health issues.

They claimed the proposed use would have “positive benefits in creating opportunities for vulnerable citizens”.

Some 72 residents had objected to the plans, claiming the farm is harmful to the green belt, is leading to a loss of biodiversity and threatens the security of neighbouring properties.

The council received 19 letters in support of the farm.

David Cunnea, a special needs teacher, told the committee: “This is an amazing opportunity to bring these children back to school. Children will be out in the fresh air, and there is a lot of space for them to move around.

“For me as a teacher, this is the ideal place to engage children in education.”

But Dianne Murphy, of London Wildlife Trust Barnet group, said allowing 40 sheep, three pigs and a range of other animals on to the site would lead to overgrazing.

She said: “I would very definitely not put pigs on the site. They would completely destroy the grassland.”

Miss Murphy also suggested the “road” around the edges of the site was only there to facilitate future residential development.

But the applicant, Barry Sweetbaum, said the “wood chip roads” were there “to protect the environment and ensure our tractors can get to the animals when they need to do so”.

Councillors voted against the retrospective application by three votes to two, with one abstention.

The farm was judged to be inappropriate on the green belt, while residents’ concerns over security and air quality were upheld.