A CONTROVERSIAL plan to convert a former workshop into a home has been rejected again.

The plan would have seen an old carpentry workshop in Sebright Avenue converted into a new home but the plan was rejected again for not having enough car parking.

It was previously rejected by Worcester City Council in June when two homes were proposed.

Residents and councillors spoke out against the first plan after the county council’s highways departments said it should be refused for not providing any new car parking spaces in the already crowded and congested street.

The developer had defended it saying allowing the building to be converted into a home would mean less traffic and congestion in the area than if it was allowed to stay as a workshop but the council thought differently with highways officers dismissing the claim.

“The applicant has stated that the existing commercial use is more intensive than the proposed residential use in terms of traffic generation however this has not been evidenced and is not automatic," the report outlining the rejection said.

In June, some members of the council's planning committee had said they did not like to be "threatened" into approving the application because it would create less traffic.

The developers had said if the plan was not approved there would “no other reasonable option” but to continue using the building as a workshop - creating more traffic.

“The proposals seek to utilise the building for residential purposes, which would reasonably result in fewer vehicular trips to and from the building, than a continued use as a commercial workshop," the developer said. "Clearly, it is not a reasonable option or prospect that the building is just left empty to deteriorate, and as such a suitable re-use of the building is the only viable option. Should residential use of the building not be permitted, then there would be no other reasonable option but to continue the established use of the building as a commercial workshop."