PLANS which would see more than 120 new homes built in the grounds of a county landmark could be about to fall through.

Planners will meet on Thursday night to discuss the Impney Estate's plans to revelop the historic Chateau Impney.

Despite positive feedback from residents and nearby local authorities, the housing plans are recommended for refusal by Wychavon District Council officers who have hit out at "unnecessary" green-belt building and the future of the site.

In the planning committee's report on the plans, due to be examined on September 22, the council's planning officers state their concerns that if the re-opening of Chateau Impney as a hotel fails as a business, the land will be left with a large amount of houses and not be sustainable.

READ MORE: Plans submitted for new village at Chateau Impney

At the same time, councillors will also examine an application for listed building consent which will see the more modern extensions to the hotel itself removed, with the building returned to its more traditional look.

This is recommended for approval, despite the plans for the homes being recommended for refusal.

Worcester News: PLANS: How the Impney Estate could look. Pic. Impney EstatePLANS: How the Impney Estate could look. Pic. Impney Estate (Image: NQ)

Historic England supported the restoration of the hotel, but called the building of a new village on-site "unnecessary" in their submission.

The planning report into the homes said: "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."

READ MORE: How the Chateau Impney saga unfolded

The plans were originally submitted early in 2022 after the historic hotel closed down during the Covid pandemic.

A public consultation was carried out by the Impney Estate throughout late 2021 with an overwhelmingly positive public response.

The application was supported by Droitwich Town Council as well as the neighbouring Upton Warren Parish Council, with a large number of positive responses to the plans from residents of the town.

Despite this, the committee report attacked the plans as being unsuitable to the location, with building on greenbelt land and a lack of sustainable transport links being key areas of concern.

Council planners added that the Impney Estate 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 plans can be viewed in full at plan.wychavon.gov.uk/Planning/Display/W/22/00914/FUL