A PLAN to build more homes on green space on the edge of the city looks set to be approved.

The move would see 28 homes built on former paddocks off Martley Road on the edge of Worcester under plans set to be decided by Malvern Hills District Council’s planning committee.

The land currently sits on the edge of the boundary earmarked for the West Worcester ‘urban extension’ which will eventually see thousands of homes built between the city and Lower Broadheath.

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Planning officers at Malvern Hills District Council have recommended the plan be approved.

Some of the land, which sits next to Laugherne Brook, is in zones which are classed as at most risk from flooding by the Environment Agency.

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The green space is also classed as open countryside by the council and sits within its ‘significant gap’ which is supposed to be used to preserve villages by creating a buffer between Worcester and some of its surrounding areas.

The ‘urban extension’ of the city included in the South Worcestershire Development Plan (SWDP), which has been approved through various planning applications in the last five years, includes plans to build up to 2,150 new homes and a new school and contains measures to protect the ‘significant gap’ and prevent building on land that is at risk of flooding.

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A report by planning officers, which will be discussed by the district council’s planning committee on October 4, said that while the plan would breach its policies on making sure that ‘significant gaps’ were maintained, it had “little weight” because the land was near the edge of ‘built-up’ Worcester and the proposed urban extension.

The report said: “Whilst the proposal would conflict with the council’s spatial development strategy, which places strict limits on development outside development boundaries, in light of the housing supply shortfall and that local services and employment opportunities would be reasonably accessible from the site, limited weight is given to those conflicts.”

The planning committee meets from 6pm.