A PLAN to build a new four-bed home on green space next to a bungalow was refused.

Worcester City Council’s planning committee rejected the plan to build a two-storey four-bedroom home in Nunnery Lane off Spetchley Road next to a bungalow known as Rose Villa.

The site was designated as green space in the South Worcestershire Development Plan (SWDP) - land that extends along the rear of the gardens along Nunnery Lane and Spetchley Road which link to the larger green space of Worcester Woods and the playing fields at Nunnery Wood.

Councillor Chris Cawthorne said if the council’s planning committee approved the home it could be “opening up the floodgates” to a whole new road behind Spetchley Road.

The development fell within previous planning permission granted by the council for the current bungalow which stated the green space must be landscaped and kept as a garden only and should not be developed on.

The council's planning department had recommended the plan was refused and the site should remain as a garden.

A certificate under national legislation had been granted to allow for a garage to be built on the land.

Cllr Tracey Biggs, who represents Nunnery ward, called the application to the planning committee which met last Thursday (May 23) and asked councillors whether the green space policy for the Nunnery Lane plan was still fit for purpose.

She said: "The green space starts partway down the applicant’s garden. It is a garden but there is but there isn’t any control or measure imposed on the applicant on how that garden is kept or maintained.

“In fact, in its present state it is completely hardcore. There is no green there at all.”

Cllr Biggs said a plan for a garage that had been granted a lawful development certificate was bigger than the proposed house.

She said the removal of a sceptic tank as part of the plan may even enhance the area.

Cllr Pat Agar, vice chairman of the planning committee who also represents Nunnery ward, said building a home would disrupt the wildlife corridor between Nunnery Lane and Worcester Woods and despite the hardstanding and fencing did see no reason to make the problem worse.

She said Rose Villa had been built in 2009 before the SWDP had been approved and adopted and she had disapproved of it being built. She said the plan had been a “borderline case” and a government inspector was unhappy with the amount of hedge that was going to be removed.

Cllr Agar said the committee would be “tempting fate” if the council allowed more building on the site.

A number of objections were raised by neighbours who feared they would lose privacy from the new home.

Some neighbour comments stated the green space to the side of the bungalow used to be an orchard and were under the impression that a new trees would be planted when planning permission was granted for the bungalow.

Neighbours were also concerned by an increase of cars in Nunnery Lane which would contribute to congestion on the already busy Spetchley Road.

A design statement compiled by Nick Carroll Architect on behalf of Jabran Khalid said the new home would improve the look of the site - which it called a "scruffy end of garden plot with no physical noteworthy features" - and "better assimilate" it into the character of Nunnery Lane.