RESIDENTS opposed to plans to demolish a landmark Stourbridge pub to make way for a large care home have breathed a sigh of relief.

Dudley Council planners last night rejected a controversial proposal by Frontier Estates to bulldoze The Greyhound on Norton Road and replace it with a 55-bed care facility with just 20 parking spaces.

The developers said the home would provide much-needed nursing care for the elderly and people with dementia but the plan sparked strong opposition from residents and ward councillors who raised concerns about the overbearing design of the building, its location on a busy and dangerous junction and a lack of parking spaces for the facility - not to mention the loss of the long-running pub.

A Save the Greyhound petition opposing the scheme gathered more than 1,000 signatures online and 87 letters of objection were initially submitted to Dudley planners...followed by a further 60 despite a subsequent revision of the scheme which saw the number of rooms reduced by five, more trees added to the landscape and the building pushed slightly back from the road.

Council officers had recommended approval of the plan following the revisions but at Wednesday's development control committee meeting councillors gave the scheme the thumbs down after listening to the concerns raised.

It was refused on the grounds that "its scale, bulk and massing would result in an incongruous, unsympathetic and overly dominant addition to the street scene that would result in the site appearing overdeveloped". It was also noted that it "would be detrimental to the visual amenity of the surrounding area".

Ward councillor Karen Shakespeare, who spoke against the development at the meeting, said afterwards she was "happy with the decision" and she added: "I think there was a lot of strength of feeling and concern that it was an over intensive development in a very small location right on that tight junction with a busy road.

"The structure proposed was so gigantic and totally out of character with other houses on the road and the area. It was really not in an ideal location at all. It was over development of the plot. I think the developers really need to look at an alternative location with more land."

Norton resident Mick Sage took to Facebook to thank all those who signed the petition objecting to the development and campaigning for the pub to stay and he said: "It would have been awful."

The developers have not responded to a request for further comment.