Work at the site began without planning permission

Fruit grower S&A Produce has already started work on the project at Brierley Court Farm, near Leominster.

But on Wednesday Herefordshire County Council blocked the development after locals, supported by TV gardener Monty Don, mounted a protest.

Managing director Graham Neal said S&A would appeal against the decision.

Planners ignored

"This is a procedure that goes on and we have to accept the decision," he told BBC Radio Hereford and Worcester.

"We have to decide what happens next, but we will be appealing on the basis that planners recommended approval of the scheme and councillors went against this."

When he was asked why the company could not employ people from the UK, he said: "You find me 1,600 workers by the 16 May and I will take them.

"It's a great deal of work trying to accommodate these people."

Employed legally

The plan for the site included mobile homes, a cinema, football pitches, a shop and a doctor's surgery.

The company uses temporary plastic-covered greenhouses - known as poly tunnels - to grow its strawberries on a farm covering more than 100 acres.

The firm uses about 2,000 migrants from across Europe during the harvest season, many of whom are students employed legally under the government's seasonal agricultural workers' scheme.

But local people were strongly opposed to the plans for the village.

On Wednesday their concerns were backed by councillors who voted against the development by 18 to one - with one abstention.