COUNCILLORS in Appleton will recommend refusal for amended blueprints at a controversial housing development in Appleton Hall Gardens.

When planners rejected moves to build a modern three-storey house, last June, Steve and Lynn Molyneux were faced with the prospect of either altering their original plans, or even seeing their house knocked down.

Objections from councillors - who highlighted discrepancies from previous planning consent and reports of 'savage' pruning - resulted in the planning committee throwing out the plans and suggesting enforcement action.

But a new application has now reached the Town Hall for a variation to planning permission for a detached house with garage.

However, Appleton Parish Council looks set to remain defiant against the amended plans, with a spokesman claiming there had been "little alteration to the retrospective application".