THERE are fears that Worcester’s new super-library complex will suffer after plans to build flats on the site were thrown out.

Developers behind the £60 million Worcester Library and History Centre in The Butts put forward plans to built a six-storey apartment complex on the site after proposals to built a hotel crumbled.

Despite a warning that all the planned shops, restaurants and cafes would also be lost if there is no hotel or a housing development, Worcester City Council’s planning committee followed officers recommendations and refused the application.

Speaking at a planning meeting on Thursday (Oct 14) Peter Parkes, Worcestershire County Council’s head of strategic projects, said all the partners involved had worked tirelessly with contractors Galliford Try to find a solution after all three hotel operators that had initially showed interest dropped out.

In a letter handed to councillors - who approved plans for the hotel in July 2009 - he said: “There is an overwhelming case that the provision of housing is the only viable alternative to a hotel and is needed to deliver the wider regeneration opportunity.

“The proposal is to change to 61 apartments, without which all the commercial development, including the shops, restaurants, convenience store and cafes will be lost”.

Planning officers agreed that the commercial buildings were an essential part of the whole site. They said without them the land around the state-of-the-art centre could become “windswept, uninhabited spaces, isolating the new library from the surrounding city fabric”.

In his report senior planner Alan Coleman said: “Henry Davidson (property development company) are currently of the view that if the proposed residential development is not approved, then the prospects of securing tenancies for the shops and restaurant uses will be significantly diminished.”

When asked during the meeting if he felt the same Mr Coleman said: “That is the case being presented, but I couldn’t confirm whether it is fact.

“I’ve expressed a view that it seems strange that the viability of the commercial units relies solely on the housing development.”

Councillors discussed a lack of affordable housing provision and need for city centre accommodation before a show of hands. Six councillors voted to refuse the plans, while six voted to approve them.

Chairman Rob Rowden used his casting vote to side with planning officers and refuse the application.

Galliford Try is now under an obligation to put hard landscaping where the hotel or flats would have gone. They cannot grass or plant trees in the space as the library and history centre’s service area is underground and not designed to take the weight of topsoil.