A GLIMMER of hope has been offered to a man from Murrow who wants to knock down his house and replace it with a bigger home.

David Goodwin has previously been turned down by Fenland planners after trying to demolish a detached cottage on Hooks Drove and replace it with a three bed, two storey house.

Officers recommended Fenland District Council Planning Committee to reject a fresh bid by Mr Goodwin but councillors decided to defer it for “re-consultations on amended plans.”

At issue is whether Mr Goodwin should be allowed to build the new home on a separate part of his land and continue to live in the cottage whilst building work goes on.

Rules state, insist planners, that replacement homes must be sited on the same or a similar footprint to the existing housing.

Case law also supports this contention, councillors were told. However much people want to live in their existing home whilst building a new home this was not something the committee was entitled to consider.

Although Wisbech St Mary Parish Council had no objections to the proposals, officers from the district council felt the new home “would be harmful to the character and appearance of the open countryside.”