A PLAN to knock down the building that once housed the county’s school library service will go back to drawing board after planners deferred a decision.

The application, considered by Worcester City Council’s planning committee yesterday, proposed the demolition of the county’s school library service building in Sherwood Lane for it to be replaced with eight homes and a bungalow.

But the committee heard from a number of residents who voiced their concerns about the height of the new homes, the loss of privacy and an increase in traffic and car parking. Among the comments made to committee members were that residents were not against building there but that they did not want a two-storey building and that, with insufficient parking, they were worried cars would park into the nearby streets affecting the access for emergency service vehicles.

Residents also said they had applied for extensions on their homes but had been told they couldn’t build above the existing level - so there was surprise the developers, Signature New Homes, had been allowed to put forward the application.

Julian Hill, from agents Zebra Architects, told the meeting what was being proposed was less than the South Worcestershire Development Plan (SWDP) had allocated for the site, and stressed the firm had taken on board residents' feedback and altered the plans.

However, he was grilled by Cllr Alan Amos, who said: “You say you have engaged with residents, but you haven’t listened to them.

“It is an area of bungalows - but you want to build houses there.”

Councillor Roger Berry said this was an 'eyesore site' and invited Mr Hill to explain the benefits of the scheme.

Mr Hill said: “It would be an active site again, and it wouldn’t be a dead zone,” adding that it would give local people somewhere to live.

During the debate, Councillor Stuart Denlegh-Maxwell said: “We should be looking at a different design here.The developers should take on board the comments from this meeting, and come back with slightly different designs.”

And Cllr Amos said: “This development is significantly out-of-character. No development should be detrimental to the existing community.”

But Councillor Mike Johnson said he could see no material reason to oppose the scheme, while Councillor Pat Agar said as long as the floor levels were right, she would be happy with the proposal.

A vote to refuse the plans was lost, and councillors voted unanimously to defer the application so that the applicants could come back with a more sympathetic design.

READ MORE: Worcestershire's school library service building set to be demolished for eight homes and a bungalow