PLANNING permission for a cottage at Ripple, near Upton upon Severn, to be pulled down and replaced with a much bigger property has been overturned by a Malvern Hills District Council committee.

The council’s southern area development control committee had granted permission for the scheme for Stoneacre, School Lane, Ripple, against officers’ recommendations.

The matter was referred to the council’s main planning committee, which resolved to refuse permission because it was against planning policy and could create an undesirable precedent.

The new home would have been 23 per cent bigger than the old one and planning policy only allows a 15 per cent increase in floorspace on properties considered to be in open countryside.