A PLAN to build affordable homes as one part of a larger urban extension of the city was rejected because it would intrude on green space.

Malvern Hills District Council dismissed a plan by Piper Homes to build 27 affordable homes on land at Broomhall Grange off Norton Road in Norton near Worcester saying it was inappropriate when considering the major urban extension as a whole.

Plans to cope with potential flooding and insufficient information over parking, crossings and providing safe views at junctions also led the plan to be rejected, a council report said.

The overgrown and disused land, next to Little Treasures Nursery and Preschool, fell within the development boundary in the South Worcestershire Development Plan (SWDP) which sets out a broad desire to build 2,600 homes, employment space, shops and a primary school around Norton and Broomhall.

The plan would have been a mix of two one-bed maisonettes, 15 two-bed terraced homes and ten three-bed semi-detached homes.

Similar plans have been refused by the council in the past including a 2013 plan which was also dismissed by the government’s planning inspector less than a year later.

A different plan for 28 homes on the same site was again refused by the council at the start of 2015.

Previous plans had been criticised for a lack of green space which resulted in Piper Homes including, what it said, was the required 40 per cent of space.

Nevertheless, council planners said the 40 per cent threshold had not been met and included it as one of the reasons for refusal.

Worcestershire County Council’s highways department had called for the previous plans to be refused over safety concerns and for the latest plan to be deferred.

Norton-Juxta-Kempsey Parish Council also objected to the plan.

A number of plans have already been approved around the site in Norton.

The huge developments, which were approved between 2017 and January 2019, include a massive £500 million, 2,204-home ‘super village between St Peter’s and Kempsey, and a 255-homes plan next to the A4440 on the edge of the city.