A COTTAGE will be demolished to make way for a new eco-friendly house.
Rose Hill Cottage in Rose Hill, off London Road, is the last remaining building associated with the old Rose Hill House, which was knocked down in the 1960s and replaced with terraced housing and garages.
Members of Worcester City Council’s planning committee approved the plans to replace Rose Hill Cottage at a meeting on Thursday (October 24).
Cllr Jill Desayrah said: “In my heart I always want to think about saving old buildings because I love them, but this one I think isn’t particularly loveable. It is quite dilapidated and in need of being replaced. I don’t mourn its loss on this occasion.”
Cllr Louis Stephen added: “This building has been there over 100 years but it’s not an example of a pretty, beautiful building. It has done good service but we’re putting infrastructure in for the future.”
READ MORE: Worcester cottage could be demolished to make way for new-build
Cllr Alan Amos said the design “seems to be a mass of brick and grey slate - featureless seems to be the polite way of putting it”.
He also questioned whether it was more environmentally friendly to knock down an old house and replace it with a new one, even if the new one had green features such as solar panels and air source heat pumps.
Cllr Elena Round raised a concern that electric gates proposed for the new house would be noisy and cause a nuisance for neighbours.
Planning officers, who had recommended approval, said the decision was finely balanced.
Cllr Jenny Barnes said: “On balance I think I’m prepared to go with this application. It’s a shame as I’m always sad to see an elderly building go.”
There will be an archaeologist on site during construction work as the area around Rose Hill Cottage is a battle site dating back to the Battle of Worcester.
A member of the public, speaking at the meeting, said the house was “perfectly habitable as it is”, adding: “There’s no need to knock it down.”
The applicant told councillors the new house would consume at least 75 percent less energy than the current building.
She said bricks from the current house would be used to rebuild the “dilapidated” northern boundary wall.
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