A HUGE plan to build a new ‘village’ on the grounds of an historic town hotel has been derided by council planners.

The bid to re-open the famous grade II-listed Chateau Impney hotel in Droitwich alongside more than 120 new homes was put forward earlier this year.

Wychavon District Council’s planning officers have criticised the plan for ‘unnecessarily’ building homes on the town’s green belt and have recommended it is turned down when councillors meet in Pershore next Thursday (September 22).

Officers said they could not support the plan as the homes would be built on green belt land outside of Droitwich’s assigned development boundary and were “inappropriate.”

“There is also the overriding concern that once the 127 dwellings are built, they cannot be taken away and would remain within the hotel grounds even if the applicant’s ambitions for the hotel fails to succeed in the short or longer term,” a report from officers said.

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Historic England said it supported seeing the main grade II-listed building but called the new ‘village’ unnecessary and feared its inclusion would damage the heritage site.

Council planners added that developer Impney still needed to prove why it was necessary to build 127 homes, having cut the amount from 200 homes, to reopen and refurbish the Chateau hotel and building more than 40 homes next to Impney Hall would be “harmful and inappropriate” and ruin the historic setting.

The council also criticised the layout of the remaining 80-plus homes as ‘more appropriate for an urban rather than a village setting’ and did not support some of the demolition work proposed by Impney.

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“It is not clear why the proposal leaves some modern extensions on the Impney Hall without modification to make them more acceptable within their context,” the report went on to say.

“The increase in traffic due to Little Impney is considered to be detrimental to the setting of Impney Hall, being both too much and too close.

“The loss of the agricultural land is a further cause for concern, especially given the proposed density of the proposed housing which would appear isolated and out of character within the setting of Impney Hall, a grade II listed building.”