Plans for homes in Kempsey rejected

A plan to build 30 homes in a village near Worcester has been turned down by council planners.

A planning application to build the new homes on fields off Post Office Lane in Kempsey was put forward by housebuilder Lantar Developments last year.

Planners at Malvern Hills District Council (MHDC) have rejected the application saying the new homes would be “inappropriate” and would have an “adverse impact” and “unacceptably encroach” on open countryside.

A total of 80 objections from villagers in Kempsey were made against the plan during consultation who said the homes would be built in an “unsustainable” location and condemned the effect it would have on already-stretched local services such as schools.

A report from officers at MHDC outlining the rejection said: “The site in this case would not provide suitable accessibility for pedestrians to the built up area, having an adverse impact on highway safety and sustainable transport choices, and would also be in a location which cannot provide the required educational places for prospective residents, harmful to their welfare and the welfare of the community at large, as well as having significant adverse impacts on the visual amenities of the area, the spatial pattern of development and the character and qualities of the landscape.”

Kempsey Parish Council also objected to the scheme saying enough homes had already been built in the village.

The parish council also said the “isolated position” of the homes would be “harmful to the character of the village, its rural setting and the countryside in general.”

Highways officers at Worcestershire County Council recommended the plan should be turned down because of a lack of path, which would be “unsafe.”

The homes would have sat next to the recently completed 75-home Sallowbed Way plan in Kempsey but would have been outside the designated development boundary for the village.

An application to build 150 homes off the A38 on the southern edge of Kempsey was put forward last year alongside another plan to build 57 homes on fields off Brookend Lane by developer Richborough Estates.

Housing association Bromford has also revealed plans to build 48 affordable homes off Broomhall Lane between Worcester and Kempsey which would sit next to a proposed plan to build 70 homes by Platform Housing.