APPLICATIONS for new houses in the borough could soon be turned down as part of new planning rules.

At its recent AGM, Redditch councillors agreed to put a moratorium on building new homes when its housing requirement is filled.

As part of its Local Plan 3, the council was allowed to build a maximum of 4,504 dwellings between April 1996 and March 2011. And following a planning meeting on May 23 only 74 of the original quota remain.

In the meantime, new planning applications will only be recommended for approval if they are brownfield sites in the Redditch urban area, while proposals for greenfield sites will be recommended for refusal.

Once the 4,504 housing requirement is reached, applications for residential development will not receive planning permission- apart from in exceptional circumstances.

Planning committee chairman councillor Nigel Hicks said they were confident the proposal was the best way forward but one problem was the definition of brownfield sites, which currently included people's gardens.

He said: "Theoretically that counts as redeveloping previously developed land, which is absolutely ludicrous. The Council for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE) quite rightly presses us to build on brownfield sites but that would mean we would build on every bit of green space."

He said a bill was currently going through Parliament which would solve the problem and they could also use other planning policy to deal with the issue.

He added: "We have a scarce resource and in this case the resource is the ability to grant planning applications, so we want to use it in the best interests of the town. We are endeavouring to deliver the best that we can for the people of the town."

For more details, call the Develop-ment Plans Team at the town hall on 64252 or email devplans@redditchbc.gov.uk