Plans for village homes return

A plan to build more homes in a village has been put back on the table but has now shrunk in size.

The returning plan by Custom Land for land off Bransford Road in Rushwick now contains just eight new homes having seen a 42-home plan rejected by the council twice and thrown out on appeal by a government planning inspector.

The new plan would see eight homes built on the eastern part of the fields off Coronation Avenue in Rushwick.

A statement included with the application said: “The landscape and heritage concerns raised by the inspector when determining the previous appeal for the 42 dwelling scheme have been addressed by this application.

“The appeal was primarily dismissed because of the harm caused to the setting of the [grade II-listed] Willow House and the unacceptable closing of the gap between Rushwick and Broadmore Green.

“This application has addressed these concerns by reducing the scale of development and only seeking housing on the eastern part of the field maintaining a countryside gap between the settlements and keeping an open aspect for the Willow House.”

The controversial plan to build 42 homes in the village near Worcester was fought off several times by campaigners in as many years.

Despite the opposition in the village against the homes and despite Malvern Hills District rejecting the plan, the homes still could have been built if the government’s planning inspector overruled the council.

Following the government planning inquiry, inspector Hayley Butcher said building homes on the green space would harm the character and appearance of the village and surrounding countryside.

Malvern Hills District Council planners had rejected the first plan in March 2018 because it was outside the village’s development boundary in the South Worcestershire Development Plan (SWDP) and it would have impacted negatively on the character of the area.

The same plan was put forward again by Custom Land Ltd in 2019 and rejected for a second time by council planners.

Hundreds of objections were raised against both plans include including a 400-plus petition in 2018.

The proposal can be viewed via the planning section of MHDC’s website.

The application number is M/22/00175/OUT and public consultation ends on March 8.