A CONTROVERSIAL plan to build 40 homes on the edge of the city has been turned down by the council.

Platform Housing wanted to build ‘affordable housing’ on land in Hallow near Worcester but the scheme has been thrown out by Malvern Hills District Council.

The mix of one-to-four-bed maisonettes, bungalows and houses would have been built on almost five acres of farmland off the village’s Oakleigh Heath but planners rejected the application because there was no justification to build outside Hallow’s earmarked boundary for housing.

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Malvern Hills planners also said Platforming Housing had used “flawed assessments” and “unsubstantiated assumptions” – as well as “inappropriately” including the number of homes in Claines and ignoring a plan by another developer for 55 homes in the village in its calculations.

More than 40 villagers had objected to the plan ahead of the council making a decision.

A plan to build 76 homes on the land was rejected by Malvern Hills District Council in 2017 – almost 18 months after it was put forward.

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An appeal was then made to the government’s planning inspector in a bid to get the decision overturned and while the number of homes was reduced to 38, the plea was still rejected.

Back in 2017, planners at Malvern Hills District Council said building homes on the land would ruin the ‘character’ of the village and countryside.

Planners also did not want to see agricultural land lost to housing.

The land, despite being put forward as a potential site for new housing, was not included in the ongoing review of the South Worcestershire Development Plan which sets out where thousands of homes will be built in the next 20 years.

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Several housing plans have been put forward in Hallow in recent years.

Last year, Hayfield Homes began building 55 homes off the village’s Greenhill Lane.

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This was agreed by Malvern Hills District Council’s planning committee despite the adopted neighbourhood plan for Hallow – which sets out how many homes should be built in the village – saying that around 40 homes should be built on the land.

Hayfield Homes had already built 65 homes on neighbouring land with the 55-home plan accompanying Piper Homes’ scheme to build 33 houses in the village.