A DISGRACED ex-councillor has become locked in a bitter battle with his former colleagues as he contemplates leaving the town he served for more than 20 years.

Keith Rogers - who was fined £5,000 last September for possessing indecent photographs of children - has accused mem-bers of Wychavon District Council's planning committee of using their powers to restrict plans for his house "for no other reason than their personal dislike of me."

Mr Rogers, who was first elected to the council in 1979, is considering leaving his Birch Coppice home.

The 66-year-old has applied for out- line planning permission for a residential development on the land of his home with a view to increasing its value.

And while the council has approved this, he says restrictions placed on the application are there "simply to make life difficult".

He has now issued a formal appeal.

"Me and my wife have been giving consideration to our long-term future, and even to moving away from Droitwich," said Mr Rogers, in a letter accompanying the appeal notification.

"As part of our consideration, we recently had the house valued.

"The surveyors proposed, as we have a large garden, that we seek outline planning consent for residential development.

"Wychavon District Council ended up moving away from their officers' advice and put together a package of restrictions for no other reason than their personal dislike for the applicant," said Mr Rogers in a letter accompanying the appeal notifications.

"The conditions simply make life difficult for me and should be removed."

Among the restrictions in question are the retention of trees, construction hours and the domestic use of an existing garage.

Planning officer Robert Peel said councillors had not treated the application any differently.

"The planning committee approved outline planning permission for the development of one dwelling on the site," he said.

"They did impose some restrictions, but they dealt with the application as they would have done any other.

Councillor Jean Dowty chair of Wychavon's development control committee said: "I don't know why Mr Rogers would think our decision was personal.

"All our planning decisions are made for purely planning reasons and not personal ones."