Residents in Redditch fight plan for town centre hotel

Residents fighting plans for a hotel in Redditch town centre are applying to have the site listed as a village green.

Redditch Borough Council granted planning permission to the Kingfisher Shopping Centre for a seven-storey hotel in Oakley Road.

It said the hotel plan met planning guidelines, but locals say the land is a badly needed green space.

They are now applying to Worcestershire County Council to have it preserved.

Abdul Ullah, of Oakley Road, who is organising the application, said the area was already dwarfed by the town's bus station, a multi-storey car park and the shopping centre.

"It is going to be a dull, pathetic place if this hotel is built," he said.

"They might as well knock down our homes and have done with it.

"People are very angry and bitter. This has been going on for 30 years, it has been a gradual diminishing of our quality of life."

A spokesman for Redditch Borough Council said the application met planning guidelines.

"It was mentioned by residents at the planning committee that they were seeking village green status. This process is separate from the planning process, and therefore has no bearing on whether or not we grant consent," she said.

"It may, if granted that status, have a bearing on whether the consent can be implemented."