DUDLEY Council is facing a bill that could run into five figures after the Planning Inspectorate overturned a decision to reject an Amblecote care home plan.

Developer Surinder Bains was this week celebrating after being given the go-ahead to continue his plan to transform new homes built on the site of the old Stourbridge War Memorial Club into two residential care homes for children, following a successful appeal.

The Smethwick-based builder had been denied permission to turn the properties, next to Stourbridge's War Memorial Athletic Ground, into two eight-bedroom units for up to 16 youngsters aged six to 16 in care when he took the plan to Dudley's development control committee last September.

Committee members voted against planning officers' recommendations and threw the scheme out - amid fears over the development's location near a busy road and floodlit sports ground.

But the committee's decision is likely to have cost the council thousands of pounds as the Planning Inspectorate has ruled the concerns were "not grounds for dismissing the appeal" and the authority must now pay the full costs of the appeal to Mr Bains' company - Bains Builders Ltd.

Planning inspector Christopher Anstey said in his report: "As the council has failed to substantiate its refusal reasons and take account of all the relevant material considerations it has acted unreasonably and caused the appellant company to incur unnecessary expense in preparing and submitting the appeal. Consequently there are grounds for an award of full costs."

Mr Bains said he was pleased common sense had prevailed and added: "I felt I was very hard done by. The committee just blindly refused it. Nobody really read what was put in front of them.

"I don't understand how they over-ruled the decision of the planners and simply disregarded people who are more qualified in that field than they are.

"In making these silly decisions they're messing about with taxpayers' money. Would they make decisions like these if they had to pay out of their own pocket?"

He added: "I'd like to thank my team from Integrated Designs for putting such hard work and effort into it to get where we are today."

Paramjit Sehdeva, managing director of Great Barr based Integrated Designs - architects for the scheme, said: "We did a tremendous amount of background work with the planners before the application went in and we had the full support of the council's officers when we submitted the application."

He said he would be preparing an application for costs which will be submitted to the council within the next two weeks and he added: "We're talking about a five figure sum - there's been a team behind the whole appeal process; all this means there's a cost to bear."

Councillor Qadar Zada, chairman of Dudley's development control committee, said: “The decision of the committee was made by local councillors, representing the concerns of local people, so we are naturally disappointed by the decision of the inspectorate in Bristol. However, we accept their findings and will now liaise with the applicant in relation to any costs incurred.”

Building work on the site is expected to be completed within six weeks and Mr Bains hopes a children's care provider will take it on after the inspector said in his report there was "a pressing need for this sort of accommodation in the borough".