A FORMER village postmaster is left with a room he cannot use because of planning red tape.

David Miller has had to leave the front room at his Cropthorne home, which was the village post office until last September, empty.

Wychavon District Council would not give him planning permission to change the use of the room to living accommodation.

Now, eight months on, he is submitting a fresh application to Wychavon for permission to use the room at his Main Street house.

Councillors said the post office was urgently needed and the village could not afford to lose it.

Mr Miller said: "We are re-applying for change of use.

"Last time officers said we had not submitted enough information regarding the viability of the business."

Mr Miller, who was village postmaster for 18 years, added: "Our figures quite clearly show that it was not viable.

"However, it was also the huge cost involved in bringing the post office and shop up to date to meet the latest Government legislation under the Disabled Act that also helped to make our minds up to retire."

Last year the whole question of the village post office became a very contentious issue.

Villagers were outraged when Roy and Kim Summers were refused planning permission in May 2001 to take over the post office business.

They wanted to run it from their home in Middle Lane but the application was refused on highway safety grounds and because of doubts over its viability.

The decision prompted a storm of protest in the village, but the Summers' later lost an appeal, and there seems little chance of anyone else coming forward to provide the service.

Mr Miller's change of use request is due to go before Wychavon's planning committee within the next eight weeks.