A GOVERNMENT inspector will decide whether a former workshop can be converted into a home after an appeal was launched.

The controversial plan, which would see an old carpentry workshop in Sebright Avenue in Worcester converted into a two-bed home, was rejected in June for not having enough parking spaces.

An appeal has now been launched with the government's planning inspectorate with a decision likely to be made next year.

Residents and local councillors spoke out against the plan in June after the county council’s highways departments said it should be refused for not providing any new car parking spaces in the already crowded and congested street.

Several neighbours in Sebright Avenue, Camp Hill Avenue and London Road had objected to the plan saying allowing the work to go ahead would also invade their privacy.

Another plan to convert the workshop into a home was rejected again by the council in September.

The developer had defended the plan saying allowing the building to be converted into a home would mean less traffic and congestion in the area than if it was allowed to stay as a workshop but the council thought differently with highways officers dismissing the claim.

In July, some members of the council's planning committee said they did not like to be "threatened" into approving the application because it would create less traffic.

City council planning officers had recommended the plan should be approved when the committee meets next Thursday (June 25) despite highways colleagues at Worcestershire County Council saying it should be refused.

Highways officers said not providing any extra car parking spaces would cause problems in the congested street.