100 homes for Worcestershire village

A plan which could see as many as 100 new homes built in a village has been revealed.

Bloor Homes has put forward plans to build up to 100 homes on fields between Worcester Road and Stourport Road in Great Witley near Worcester.

The developer has not yet submitted a planning application but has instead put forward a ‘screening opinion’ which means the district council will have to rule whether the 100-home plan, behind Great Witley CE Primary School and Great Witley Village Hall, needs an environmental impact assessment.

The land earmarked by Bloor Homes has been included in the ongoing review of the South Worcestershire Development Plan (SWDP) – which sets out where thousands of new homes will be built across the region in the next 20 years – but only for up to 44 homes.

Previous plans to build 175 homes on the same land and neighbouring fields were turned down twice by planners at Malvern Hills District Council in 2016 and 2017.

The second plan, which received more than 100 objections from villagers in Great Witley, was turned down again by a government planning inspector after an appeal was launched by Worcester-based developer Stennard Harrison’s Marsten Developments.

MHDC planners said the addition of up to 175 homes would “urbanise” the village and harm views from Witley Park and would be “prominent and dominant” against the grade II listed Witley Court.

Planners added that the homes would bring about a “significant incursion into the open countryside” which would be “significantly at odds with the surrounding built and natural environment.”

A statement included with the application said: “The emerging allocation [in the SWDP] uses an arbitrary boundary that does not follow the natural field boundary.

The proposed development demonstrates that a greater amount of new housing can be achieved over a slightly larger land area continuing the organic character of development in Great Witley.

The proposed development would see the current agricultural field being developed for new housing, roads, drainage, and open space, with construction activities being undertaken for a period of time not expected to be longer than two years.

“Once complete, the proposed development would be consistent with the character and density of the existing development in Great Witley.”