A DECISION over whether to build 120 homes in a village put forward almost 18 months ago has now been taken out of the council's hands after several delays.

Developer Lioncourt Homes wants to build the homes in Rushwick despite hundreds of objections from villagers and has now appealed to the government's planning inspectorate after Malvern Hills District Council missed its legal deadline for making a decision.

More than 250 objections were made against the plan with many saying the village did not have the infrastructure to cope.

The mix of one-to-four-bed homes would be built on fields to the eastern edge of the village between Claphill Lane, Bransford Road and the A4440.

Malvern Hills District Council’s (MHDC) planning committee meets on Wednesday (February 3) and has been asked to agree the reasons for refusing the 120 home plan which the council said it will use during the appeal.

A report by council planning officers has recommended the plan should be refused.

Once an appeal has been lodged with the government’s planning inspector, the council can no longer decide on the application.

The application was put forward almost 18 months ago in September 2019 with discussions between Lioncourt and MHDC meaning the deadline for a decision was extended last spring.

Lioncourt has also been in discussion with the council over the possibility of including the site in the new South Worcestershire Development Plan which is currently under review.

Lioncourt submitted an appeal against non-determination last month, due to the long time it has taken for a decision to be reached, but the council says the government’s planning inspectorate has yet to confirm the appeal.

Hundreds of villagers in Rushwick have also been waiting to find out whether Custom Land can still build 42 homes on land off Bransford Road despite having successfully fought off the plans almost three years ago.

Villagers campaigned against the plan in 2018 and did so again when it reappeared in 2019 only for developer Custom Land Ltd to request a government inspector looks at the decision.

Despite the opposition in the village against the homes and despite MHDC rejecting the plan twice, the homes could still be built if the government's planning inspector decides to overrule the council.

A decision is yet to be made on the appeal submitted a year ago and a fresh appeal was put forward in November last year with an inquiry date set for March.