BBC News, England (UK) Thursday, October 25, 2007 RNC College's 81 homes plan in doubt Last Updated: Thursday, 25 October 2007, 14:54 GMT 15:54 UK A college's plans to build 81 homes to help pay for Olympic and Paralympic training facilities have been recommended for refusal. The Royal National College for the Blind in Hereford wanted to raise the number of homes in the plan from 70 to 81 to pay for increasing costs. Councillors on a Herefordshire planning sub-committee rejected the scheme. The chief planning officer can now ratify the decision or refer it to another committee. A total of 89 people objected to the scheme. Their main concerns were increased volume of traffic and impact on residents, the council said. The original plan for 70 properties adjacent to the campus was approved in May. The college, which is also staging the World Blind Football Championship in 2010, says it needs the extra money for the sports facilities and halls of residence which must be ready by early 2009. 'Focal point' Robert Astick, the college's fundraising director, said the 11 extra homes would bring in around £800,000 needed for the development. He said the centre would host the Paralympics games' Blind Football in 2012 and it was hoped it would become the "home of disabled sport" in the country. "The plans are going ahead, I mean we're the host nation, and we're confident a solution can be found," he said. He added that the sports and complementary therapy centre would be a "focal point" for the community. RELATED INTERNET LINKS The Royal National College for the Blind http://www.rncb.ac.uk/ Herefordshire Council http://www.herefordshire.gov.uk/ The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hereford/worcs/7061839.stm BlindNews Mailing List Subscribe: BlindNews-Request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with "subscribe" as subject Unsubscribe: BlindNews-Request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with "unsubscribe" as subject Moderator: BlindNews-Moderators@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Archive: http://GeoffAndWen.com/blind RSS: http://GeoffAndWen.com/BlindNewsRSS.asp More information about RSS feeds will be published shortly.