A PLAN to divide up a house into flats has returned after an earlier scheme to convert the building into an HMO was turned down for including ‘cell-like’ rooms.

The new plans would see a former home in Bromwich Lane in Worcester, which is currently divided into a two-bed and a four-bed flat, reconfigured into four one-bed flats and one two-bed flat by the same developer MMFB Properties.

A conservatory would also be demolished alongside the work, according to the application.

A previous plan by the developer to turn the building into a six-bed house of multiple occupation (HMO) was thrown out by Worcester City Council’s planning committee last year for including “tiny” and “inappropriate” rooms.

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A statement included with the application said: “The scheme has been designed to ensure that as a result of the development, the overall use of the property is not over-intensified.

“This is evident when considering the number of bedrooms as existing is matched to the number of bedrooms as proposed.

“This means that as a result of the development, it would be fair to say that an approval would not result in any additional cars, cycles or refuse being associated with the property in the greatest extent or people using the property.”

The plan to turn the Bromwich Lane home into a six-bed HMO was criticised by the city council’s planning committee when it turned down the application last March – despite the council’s own planning officers recommending the work should be given the green light.

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Cllr Alan Amos said the plan was “totally inappropriate” and the council should not be ‘encouraging such nonsense’ – likening the small seven-and-a-half square metre and nine square metre rooms to “rabbit hutches.”

Cllr Owen Cleary was equally as dismissive of the plan saying the proposed rooms barely surpassed the size of a single-person prison cell and Cllr Pat Agar compared the “boxrooms” to tiny flats in crowded Tokyo.

You can have your say on the new plan by visiting Worcester City Council’s website.

The application number is 23/00014/FUL and consultation ends on February 15.