A model of the community centre at the hub of the eco-village

Lammas, the group behind the bid, said it would have been a model low-impact green development, and it now plans to amend the proposals and try again.

The village at Glandwr near the Preseli mountains would have been built from materials such as turf and straw.

Ninety people, most living close to the site, objected to the application.

It was the first to be submitted under the council's new "low impact development" policy this year.

It was drawn up to govern such developments following a protracted dispute over a roundhouse at Brithdir Mawr, near Newport in Pembrokeshire.

The message we have come away with is that they want more information about our travel and business plans Paul Wimbush, Lammas

The policy requires 75% of all household needs to be met directly from the land.

Lammas spokesman Paul Wimbush said the homes would have been built from naturally occurring materials.

Each was to be heated using willow grown on the site and would have harvested rainwater from their roofs.

All electricity was to come from renewable sources including solar panels, small windmills and a water turbine.

Each family planning to settle there had produced a plan of how they intended to work the land, producing goods ranging from smoked hams to hazelnuts.

Mr Wimbush said Lamas had received a "mixed-message" at Tuesday's planning meeting.

He said councillors appeared to broadly support low-impact living but added: "The message we have come away with is that they want more information about our travel and business plans.

The application was delivered to county hall in a wheelbarrow

"We will look at these again. We are then going to resubmit the application."

It has the backing of the Countryside Council for Wales and 117 people wrote letters of support, although most came from outside Pembrokeshire.

However, the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park opposed the application along with 90 people.

They said it would increase traffic, have a detrimental effect on the local community and Welsh language, would depart from planning rules and "open floodgates for similar proposals."

Officers said the local infrastructure did not have the capacity to serve the development.

"Some of the activities and structures on the site and potential traffic generation are not low impact," stated a report that went before councillors.