Contentious plans to build new homes in place of a row of garages in Sprowston have been scrapped for the time being.

Clarion Housing Group recently submitted outline proposals to build six two-bed homes and associated parking bays in Tills Road.

But Sprowston Town Council objected to the application during its full council meeting last week.

Since the meeting, town clerk Guy Ranaweera has been informed by officers in Broadland District Council's planning department that the application has now been withdrawn.

Mr Ranaweera said: "The applicant has not advised of the reason for withdrawing the application but has indicated that a new application is likely to be submitted in the future."

The town council had objected to the application due to insufficient vehicle access to the site as well as over-development.

It was also deemed the scale of development was out of keeping with the densely populated surrounding neighbourhood and the size of the plot.

"It is unclear if the accessway could accommodate a fire tender or rubbish collection vehicle, especially if vehicles were to be parked close to either end of the accessway causing it to narrow further," Mr Ranaweera said.

"The proposed development, which contained parking spaces for up to 15 vehicles and would generate other additional vehicular traffic, would cause the accessway to become much busier."

The town council also felt garage occupiers should not be evicted until ownership of the land and garages was clarified and the right of the owner to evict the occupiers was established.

Town councillor Bill Couzens added: "From my personal perspective there are other spaces in Sprowston with narrow driveways.

"It was more of a question for me of whether six homes was right for a site of that size.

"There was a question of ownership for the site that needs to be investigated."

One tenant, who claims to have had garages on the site since 1979 and 1992, said he was not consulted by Clarion and had obtained squatters rights.

A spokesman for Clarion said: “We are committed to preparing the site for six much needed new homes, but the planning application has been withdrawn to allow time to address points raised by the council.

“We can confirm that all the garages and the access road from the highway noted in the application are under the ownership of Clarion.”