The council was taken to court after mistakenly approving an application to build a new bungalow in a back garden when it meant to turn the plan down.

Planners at Worcester City Council initially approved the move to build the new bungalow on the corner of Beaver Close and Columbia Drive in Lower Wick, Worcester, in February but after quickly realising the mistake – issued another notice saying the plan had actually been turned down.

This resulted in the council being taken to court over the gaffe where both decisions have now been quashed by a High Court judge.

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The council will be forced to pay legal costs but the amount has not yet been revealed.

A plan for a two-bed home was put forward by Mr Howland and then eventually withdrawn more than a year ago.

The application was then put forward again last year when the mistake was made by the council’s planners.

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The cock-up was then the subject of a court case heard by Mr Justice Turner on June 29.

The court order shows that Worcester City Council admitted the error and its decision to approve the application having presented a report supporting its refusal was “irrational.”

The order also said the council admitted it did not have the power to issue a second decision refusing the application after it had already approved it.

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Following the case, the council has now rejected the application saying the bungalow would “not add to the area” and would be “incongruous, harmful and visually intrusive.”

A report outlining the rejection said: “The proposed development would be out of keeping with the character of the plot and with the street more widely, and it has not been satisfactorily demonstrated that prospective residents would not suffer overlooking from public and private vantage points.

“There are a mix of detached and semi-detached two-storey dwellings and bungalows in the [street] … whilst the design and appearance of the dwellings on the established housing estate are largely uniform.

“It is considered that the proposed dwelling, by virtue of its position, orientation, design and appearance and being one-and-a-half-storeys in height would not be in keeping with the street.”