A TOWN centre housing scheme which would have seen a well-known shop demolished has been rejected.

House clearance and antique shop Yer Tiz on Lydney High Street was in the firing line of plans to build 10 new homes and a retail outlet.

Yer Tiz’s premises would have been knocked down to provide vehicle access to the new homes, but Forest planners on Monday (January 15) turned down the application by Bridget Thomas.

It is the second major scheme on that section of the High Street to be rejected in the last two months, after a bid to redevelop and save the neighbouring Baptist chapel was also turned down.

The latest plan for homes on land behind the rear gardens of 23 to 31, High Street, proposed access off the main road underneath a ‘bridge’ flat.

But planning officer Tony Pope told councillors he was recommending refusal because the break in the frontage buildings would cause “unacceptable harm to the significance of the Lydney Conservation Area.”

He said a 2014 plan for 11 homes at the site had been rejected on similar grounds, which were upheld at an appeal in 2015, and the council needed to be consistent in the wake of being criticised for inconsistency by a judge over the Coleford Aldi supermarket application, which was backed by the council, but opposed by the Co-op.

“Members are reminded that this council was recently heavily criticised by the judge hearing the challenge in the High Court to the council’s decision to approve an out-of-centre food store in Coleford with regard to consistency of its decision making,” he said.

“In his judgement the judge states: “Although the authorities demonstrate that a local planning authority is not bound by its earlier decision, nevertheless it is required to have regard to the importance of consistency in decision-making.”

“There has been no material change in circumstance that could lead to a different conclusion. The officer recommendation is, therefore, one of refusal.”

The planning department had originally recommended approval of the scheme with a narrower ‘cart’ entrance, but the applicant had amended it after concerns from councillors.

And Mr Pope said that in the event of a refusal, the applicant “would wish to revert back to the original scheme with the ‘cart’ entrance to maintain their ability to appeal on the basis of a scheme supported by officers.”

The scheme included five three-bedroom houses, three two-bedroom homes and two flats, and would have meant the demolition of Yer Tiz and a neighbouring house at 33 and 33a, High Street.

The plan for three apartments on the 182-year-old’s Baptist chapel’s upper floors and four new houses replacing the hall and reading room behind was also turned down in November.

Worshippers wanted to fund desperately-needed renovations at the delapidated chapel via the development, and minister Rev Alison Griffiths said they were “extremely disappointed” by the council decision to reject the scheme, which left them no alternative but to worship elsewhere.

They held their last service at the Grade II-listed chapel on Sunday, January 7, where they were joined by the town’s Methodists and United Reformed church, before moving their worship to the town’s Victoria Centre last Sunday (January 14).