A plan to build a new traveller site on the edge of the city has been turned down.

The move to build the ten-pitch site next to the A4440 in St Peter’s was rejected by Worcester City Council’s planning committee at a meeting on Thursday (September 21).

Councillors voted to reject the application saying the location of the site was “inappropriate” and a safety hazard.

The land lies at the tip of the huge ‘urban extension’ which will see more than 2,600 homes built between St Peter’s in the south of Worcester towards Norton and Broomhall.

Cllr Pat Agar was not supportive of the plan saying it would be awful to have to live next to a busy dual carriageway.

"I wouldn't want a human being next to that road [and] the safety issues would be horrendous,” she said.

"Green space is utterly vital, it's a buffer, and I think it needs to be preserved as such."

However, Cllr Richard Udall said concerns over anti-social behaviour were a "red herring” and accused the council of 'clutching at straws' over rejecting the application.

Planning committee chair Karen Lewing said an application that went against policy "was not clutching at straws."

St Peter's councillor Elena Round said the noise and pollution from the A4440 was "horrific" and she "could not live with herself" to approve a plan next to the road.

"We're not going to put houses there so why do we think it's okay for somebody in a caravan to go there?"

The city council’s planning department had recommended the move should be turned down ahead of the meeting.

“The harm arising is significant and demonstrable insofar as it would compromise an important objective that has shaped the master planning of the urban extension,” the council’s planners said.

A decision on the potential new traveller site was supposed to have been made by the planning committee 18 months ago but was pulled from the agenda at the last minute.

At the time, a total of 160 objections were made against the bid by landowner Roger Lethem – and that number increased to more than 260 earlier this year.

Rumours began to circulate about a new traveller site when a sign was put up on the field next to the busy Broomhall Way at the start of 2021 by landowner Roger Lethem claiming the site was being put forward as part of a call for potential new sites in the city.

Worcester City Council dismissed the claims it would be considered – having already ruled it unsafe.

A planning application for the permanent pitches was originally submitted in December 2021 before being withdrawn three months later.