PARISH councillors have been accused of depriving someone of a home after they objected to a plan to convert a derelict pump house into a dwelling.

But members of Powick Parish Council agreed that nothing had changed since a previous plan for the Old Pump House at Lower Ferry Lane, Callow End, was turned down in 1996.

It was outside the settlement boundary and seemed completely unsuitable for conversion, said planning chairman John Mason.

Earlier, members had been addressed by parishioners opposed to the plan and by Peter Hughes, agent for the Madresfield Estate, which owns the land on three sides of the Pump House, including the 10ft wide access track.

The building was too small for conversion, said Mr Hughes.

It would have required considerable reconstruction to convert it to a one-bedroom house under the previous plan, but this was even more applicable now, as there had been a fire since then.

"The access track is unsuitable to serve the proposed dwelling. It runs right underneath 125kw cables and it must be in the flood plain.

"There is no way two vehicles could pass without one driving onto our cropped fields," he said.

Later in the meeting, when there was a second opportunity for public comment, a parishioner asked whether members were aware of Government regulations relating to the conversion of redundant buildings in the countryside.

"There is a home that you have just deprived someone of. There is a shortage of homes for young people," he said.

A decision on the plan for the Pump House will be made by Malvern Hills District Council.