LEADING councillors have blasted a housing developer after an application already approved at appeal stage was brought back in front of them with no apparent changes.

Cllr Paul Middlebrough, leader of Wychavon District Council, hit out at North Oak Homes, the house builder that won the right to build 39 homes in Drakes Broughton, near Pershore, at appeal in August last year, at a planning committee meeting of the authority on Thursday calling the application "bizarre".

He said the developer, which also won a high court battle with Wychavon concerning the site in Stonebow Road, after the authority chose to challenge the appeal earlier this year costing £16,000, were only bringing back the application to buy time.

And Cllr Middlebrough added he thought it unlikely North Oak Homes would have made the same move if they had not been able to submit the unchanged proposals for free - something the applicant could do having had the previous application refused by the authority within the last 12 months.

"When I first saw this planning application I thought it was bizarre, when it's the same as the one won before the appeal," said Cllr Middlebrough, who is also the local member for the Drakes Broughton area.

"The fact I think is it shows the applicant to be a cynical abuser of the planning system. I suspect it's to give North Oak Homes more time to market the speculative site in Drakes Broughton.

"I think it's outrageous they don't have to pay a planning fee. This is a total disgrace on the part of North Oak Homes."

He was backed by Cllr Judy Pearce, the executive board member for planning, infrastructure and housing, who said she wanted to get some of the cost incurred by Wychavon for processing the planning application recovered.

She said: "I absolutely agree that this is abuse of the system. I thought if you came back you had to change it. I don't think I have ever known a situation like this before."

But the developers defended the move, saying: "The planning application had been submitted three weeks after the council took the decision to appeal the inspector’s decision to the High Court and had hence followed the normal course.

"There was certainly no intention to abuse any planning procedures. Quite the contrary. Now is the time for development and this area is crying out for housing as the various decisions in favour of our proposals have borne out.

"However, as it appeared on the planning committee’s agenda, we welcome the reaffirmation of our proposals.

"It is our hope that this development is built out as soon as possible and we reject any suggestion of land banking."