FLOOD defences were not supposed to make a market town look like fortress,a councillor has said.

Councillor Judy Pearce, Wychavon’s elected planning chief, made her feelings clear during a planning application to raise the height of a flood wall at Pershore bridge, Bridge Street.

She said: “It’s a flood def-ence, it’s not supposed to make it look like fortress Pershore.”

The district council’s planning officers had backed approval for the flood wall to raised from 1.2m (3.9 ft) to up to 2.3m (7.5ft).

The Environment Agency had had applied for permission so that the family living at 82 Bridge Street could have some privacy from passers-by.

The Butts family agreed to have the defences form part of their boundary but engineers had to take out a hedge which had screened their home from the busy main road.

Jonathan Butts told planners he only wanted back the privacy “taken away when we agreed for our house and property to form part of the flood defence.”

He said: “Without the increase in height anyone walking on the pavement or driving past would be able to see the whole of the back garden, into our bedroom, and our young son’s bedroom.

It does not seem unreasonable to expect this sort of privacy.”

He pointed out that the original design for the wall had in fact stretched all the way to the Toll House but the plan had been blocked by design officers at English Heritage.

Neighbour Redwood Wilson, who lives at the listed Toll House, said the new planning application was “ugly” and would wreck his views of the river Avon.

Councillors heard that because of differences in ground level the garden of number 82 was overlooked and passers-by could look directly into the house – although a temporary fence currently prevents this from happening.

Coun Tom Noyes asked if the wall could be “crenallated or curved” but said he opposed simply raising the height of the brickwork.

Council officers felt the plans would “not negatively impact” on the residents of the Toll House but councillors unanimously refused the application.