U-turn over affordable homes near Worcester

Affordable housing will be allowed to be built in a village after a government inspector overruled the council.

Social housing provider Platform Housing has had its plan to build 12 homes in Crowle near Worcester backed by the government’s planning inspectorate months after being rejected by council planners.

More than 100 objections were raised against the plan by villagers in Crowle after it was put forward last year.

Overruling the council’s planning committee, planning inspector Diane Cragg said there was a need for affordable housing in the village – of between seven and ten homes – and the land was an “appropriate location.”

A report, outlining the decision, said: “Whilst I note the concerns of local residents and councillors, there is no compelling evidence before me that would lead me to come to a different conclusion to the council on these matters.”

A request by Platform Housing for Wychavon District Council to pay costs was however rejected.

The plan for the green space off the village’s Froxmere Road was rejected by Wychavon District Council in May last year because councillors did not want to see homes being built on open countryside.

The planning committee also questioned the need for affordable housing in Crowle.

Council planners had recommended the homes were approved before the committee met in May but councillors went against the advice.

Villagers in Crowle formed the Froxmere Road Housing Group in 2020 in opposition to the plan and put forward its 115 objections to the council’s planning committee when it was tasked with making a decision last year.

The group said Platform Housing had failed to prove the need for affordable housing in Crowle and building more homes on the green space would be “bringing blight without benefit.”

“The application offers nothing to the village of Crowle by way of community funding,” the group’s objection said.

“However, it will irrevocably undermine what is, essentially, the main recreational walking route in Crowle.

The much-delayed review of the major South Worcestershire Development Plan (SWDP) planning blueprint, which will not be adopted for a number of years due to the Covid-19 pandemic, has earmarked plans for up to 40 homes off Church Road in Crowle.