THE council’s planning committee has been told to ‘leave it to the experts’ after being overruled by a government inspector in a row over a new house.

A government inspector overruled Worcester City Council’s planning committee in allowing alterations to a four-bed home in the city’s Nunnery Lane – a decision celebrated by homeowner Jabran Khalid.

City architect Nick Carroll, who has acted as planning agent for Mr Khalid, criticised the council’s planning committee for ignoring the advice of its own officers and said the decision should be left to ‘those qualified’.

“These continual approvals are validation that the current owners are not ‘playing hard and fast with the rules,’ as had been stated publicly at committee,” he said.

“While the city planning authorities recommended these decisions for which we strive for on behalf of our clients, they were overturned at committee level.

“Such decisions are perhaps best left with those officers qualified to consider applications and avoid unnecessary delays and costs to the council and the owners, who as a consequence, have suffered a lot of negative attention as a result.

“This outcome has silenced, for now, their detractors.”

The city council said that despite being overruled, the decision not to award Mr Khalid costs was proof the inspector ‘understood the council’s concerns and did not consider the decision unreasonable’ but felt the work was ‘acceptable on balance’.

Cllr Chris Mitchell, who chairs the planning committee, said: “I can understand why the applicant’s agent might be concerned, but it is important to appreciate that the council’s planning committee considers the more complex and contentious planning applications received by the council.

“We consider applications very carefully and the committee will not always agree with the recommendations made by planning officers.

“The role of the committee in determining planning applications is an important part of our democratic process and I’m reassured by the fact that the application for costs against the council was refused.”

The building of the four-bed home has proved controversial and was only allowed on appeal after a two-year row with the council and only after the council’s planning committee had rejected a plan for a six-bed house.

A plan to convert a neighbouring bungalow known as Rose Villa into a two-storey home was rejected by planners earlier this year.