CONTROVERSIAL plans to build 200 homes at Worcester's Middle Battenhall Farm have been stopped in their tracks - with councillors teaming up to block it.

Amid impassioned scenes at Worcester City Council yesterday, the bid to develop the ancient beauty spot was slammed as "perverse" and "ridiculous".

Councillors voted 7-4 to be 'minded to refuse' the scheme, which means planning officers have been asked to go away and produce a report detailing how likely the rejection is likely to hold up at an appeal.

If the report signals the refusal reasons are considered acceptable, it will pave the way for a firm rejection - possibly within a month.

It follows bitter criticism at the planning meeting yesterday, with councillors queueing up to attack it.

The land is not earmarked for homes in the emerging South Worcestershire Development Plan (SWDP), but as your Worcester News revealed on Saturday officers recommended it be accepted yesterday as the plan has yet to be ratified.

That recommendation came under sustained attack at the meeting.

Councillor Robert Rowden said: "I have never had so many letters and phone calls against a planning application, ever.

"The SWDP has cost hundreds of thousands to put together, let's not drive a coach and horses through that, the thought of accepting this would be absolutely ridiculous.

"Let's not capitulate like this - if we don't stick with it today, any other applicant in the future will say 'never mind the (South Worcestershire Development) plan, you didn't stick to it with Middle Battenhall Farm, why should you stick to it now'."

Councillor Pat Agar said: "The whole Eco system would be totally destroyed, and in terms of the damage to the character of this landscape I don't see how it can ever be mitigated.

"All in all this is an iconic site, we could live to regret it if we accept this."

Councillor Lynn Denham said "nobody except Miller Homes wants to build on this land".

Councillor Derek Prodger said the fields have been "loved for centuries" while Councillor Alan Amos, the chairman, said the public would "rightly condemn" the committee if they accepted it.

"This is a step too far for Worcester, we have to draw a line somewhere and this is it," he said.

"If we don't draw the line, nobody else will. If this goes through we will destroy the very thing that makes people want to come and live in Worcester."

Simon Barry, for Miller Homes, said the land was not classed as Green Belt and called it a "sustainable" location for 200 homes.

But before his address, four Worcester councillors who did not sit on the committee, Simon Cronin, Richard Boorn, Marc Bayliss and Steve Macakay turned up to make a plea to save the land for "future generations".

Councillor Bayliss said backing the development would be "perverse", adding that it "lacks logic and a sense of fair play".

He said it would provide ample ammunition for critics of the SWDP.

"The promise of the SWDP is that while we have no choice over having new homes, the SWDP does allow us to have choice over where those homes go," he said.

"It's deeply regrettable how the process of creating a plan it's resulted in this temporary window of the loss of the five-year-land supply."

He said if accepted, it would be "a perverse outcome".

Councillor Cronin said it lacked sense to spend upwards of £38 million on dualling the A4440 Southern Link only to "clog up the most important link between the motorway and the city centre" in London Road.

"We have one chance to get this right, and if permission is given, we can never take it away," he said.

"I am also sure that if permission is refused, and an appeal is then upheld (in Miller Homes' favour), that we'd be behaving absolutely responsibly in not granting permission today."

Councillor Mackay said once gone, it would "be gone forever", saying the site is "strongly linked with the Battle of Worcester".

Councillor Boorn called it a "predatory situation" that the developer was trying to rush through.

But the site is home to a 900-year-old Scheduled Monument, with ancient ponds and a moat, as well as being considered the finest green lung in south Worcester.

Just before the vote Councillor Paul Denham called it "the most treasured landscape" in the entire city.

"To allow a developer to sneak in, on this important site is not acceptable, I won't be party to that, he said.

Jason Whittall, speaking on behalf of campaigners the Middle Battenhall Farm Action Group, said there "67 reasons" to block it including one of 'prematurity', as the SWDP is not adopted.

Among his reasons was the 'substantial harm' it could cause to a heritage asset.

Some of the other reasons cited by councillors included the loss of the green network, damage to the city's heritage, inconsistency with the SWDP, concern over traffic and the loss of an important landscape with clear historical value.

The objections in recent months topped 1,000 people, as well as a raft of organisations the the Ramblers Association, the Campaign to Protect Rural England, the Battlefields Trust and various conservation and heritage experts.

* To see our LIVE coverage of how this unfolded yesterday, click here.