A NEW international music school for future pianist stars has been dashed after planners rejected a bid to transform a former courthouse into a home.

Despite support for the plans to turn the former Magistrates Court in Main Road, Dovercourt into a single-occupancy house, Tendring Council has rejected the bid.

Officers said the change of use would be against planning policy as the area is expected to have a future demand for businesses and that turning it into a home would mean the loss of a community facility.

But the owner, who had agreed to buy the defunct building subject to planning permission being given, had hoped to transform it to a high end music school.

Ian Cresswell, a negotiator for More Estate Agents in Dovercourt, which had sold the site, said: "On behalf of the buyer I'm very disappointed and I think the people of Harwich and Dovercourt will be disappointed aswell."

Harwich Town councillor Jo Henderson, said: "It will be another derelict building we have to live with when someone wanted to turn it into somewhere better," she said.