TWO new homes will be built next to an historic city building after plans were backed by councillors.

Worcester City Council’s planning committee approved a plan to demolish a modern extension to the 170-year-old Lindisfarne House in the protected Barbourne Terrace to make way for two new four-bed homes but not without first criticising the proposed ‘Georgian-style’ design.

The committee was split over city architect Nick Carroll’s design for the new homes, which will replace an extension built in the 1970s, saying its “modern expression of Georgian architecture” was “ugly” and fell short of what was expected.

However, other councillors said the building was “far from ugly” and called for the work to be supported.

The biggest critic of the plan was Cllr Alan Amos who said the council needed to do more to protect its heritage.

“Personally, I think it is ugly and I think we could have done a lot better, I really do,” he told the committee at a meeting in the Guildhall on August 25. “We need to look after our historical assets much better.

“How is it that you’ve got a beautiful building like Lindisfarne and there’s tarmac and goodness knows what around it, so that area has now gone so developments like this become possible.

“I really think we need to learn a lesson. I think it’s tragic.”

Architect Nick Carroll said the “beautiful” heritage of the past at Lindisfarne House could not be restored.

Cllr Andy Roberts said it was “sad” that comments about preserving the heritage were being made “decades too late.”

“As far as the proposal is concerned, I don’t agree that it’s ugly, far from it in fact,” he added.

Cllr Owen Cleary agreed saying: “I would prefer to look at the Georgian building but I don’t think it’s ugly in the way some people have said. It might not look as nice but it’s not ugly.”

Lindisfarne House was built around 1850 by Henry Day, son of architect Charles Day who designed the Shire Hall in Foregate Street.

It became the county headquarters for the National Farmers’ Union in the early 60s with the extension built in the early 70s for a club lounge.

The building has been a base for City Church Worcester since 1994 which now plans to move to a bigger facility.