A controversial plan to build 30 new homes in a village has been backed despite concerns about sewage.
Wychavon District Council’s planning committee gave the go-ahead to Spitfire Homes to build 30 homes in Crowle near Worcester.
The decision comes after concerns were raised by some councillors that the sewage system for the homes would not be up to scratch.
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Councillors had first been asked to rule on building the new homes in Crowle last month, but the application was withdrawn from the planning committee agenda at the last minute.
The committee was close to delaying a decision again to allow for more talks with Severn Trent Water over whether the village could cope with the amount of sewage but that vote was lost and the planning committee then voted in favour of allowing the homes to be built.
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The council said a sewage system would have to be put in place by Severn Trent before work started on any of the new homes.
Earlier in the meeting, councillors should have ruled on a separate plan to build 62 homes in Crowle but a decision was delayed again.
The council’s planning officers had recommended the plan was approved – despite the land being classed as open countryside, which should be strictly controlled, and outside of any designated housebuilding boundary for the village.
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Council planners rejected a plan for 30 new homes on the land opposite Crowle Parish Hall in 2015 after more than 150 objections were made against it by villagers.
The earmarked land for 62 new homes is outside Crowle’s current designated development boundary but was put forward as a potential site for up to 40 new homes during the ongoing review of the South Worcestershire Development Plan (SWDP), the key county planning blueprint which sets out where thousands of homes will be built in the next 20 years.
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However, in March last year, social housing provider Platform Housing had its plan to build 12 homes in Crowle backed by government planning inspectors just months after it was rejected by council planners.
More than 100 objections were raised against the plan by villagers, but the inspector still overruled the council and allowed the plan to go ahead.
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