A MOVE to set aside land for eight new homes in a village has been turned down by council planners after a wave of opposition.

The planning application to reserve a patch of land for eight self-build plots off Broadway Lane in Fladbury near Pershore was rejected by Wychavon District Council over the potential siting of the development.

The council said the plan by Lone Start Land was outside any agreed boundary for the village and had not been included as a housing site in the South Worcestershire Development Plan (SWDP), where development is controlled and housebuilding is more restricted, and could not find any reason to make an exception.

The council also said it could not support the plan to build on open countryside.

Evesham Journal: REJECTED: The land off Broadway Lane in Fladbury near Pershore

Planners also said that the proposed location of the eight homes was “unacceptable” because it would result in people relying on a car to get around rather than public transport.

A plan to set aside land for two self-build plots on nearby land was also turned down by council planners earlier this year and another plan by Lone Star Land to build 34 homes off Broadway Lane in the village was rejected by councillors last year but could still go ahead after an appeal was lodged with the government’s planning inspectors in a bid to get the decision overturned.

More than 40 objections were raised by villagers in Fladbury before the council made its decision this time around.

One objector, Alan Boyes of Western Orchards in Fladbury, said: “This application is little more than an attempt at bypassing the previous objections to the original proposal.

“The basic facts of unsustainability remain whatever the type of housing.

“The reasons for the refusal included the fact that it was outside the village development boundary, involved the best and most versatile agricultural land and, most importantly, was unsustainable because Fladbury does not have the necessary facilities to support such a development.”

Another objector, Janice Clarke of the village’s Broadway Lane, said: “It has already been established that Fladbury is considered unsuitable for additional housing developments because it lacks the facilities to support them. The response to [the previous application] showed without doubt the objections of Fladbury villagers to building on top-grade agricultural land, and in a lane totally unsuitable for even more traffic.”