PLANS to replace a detached house on the edge of a conservation area with two other homes have been delayed for fear they mark an attempt at a wider redevelopment of the area.

Bexley Council's planning control committee decided to defer a decision on whether to allow the proposed redevelopment in Hurst Road, Bexley, pending further talks with the developer.

Both residents and councillors are concerned the applicant, Gary King, has held back a large area of the current back garden.

They fear he intends to combine it with other land to create another large redevelopment site.

The Hurst Road house is on the edge of the Bexley Village conservation area and the site backs onto the Golden Acre public open space at the end of the village high street.

Mr King wants to replace the current detached house with a pair of semi-detached houses each with a 13m garden.

But he has kept back the last 15m of the original garden from the redevelopment.

Resident Richard Gander, whose Parkhill Road home adjoins the omitted land, said he and his neighbours had "major concerns" about the situation and has been unable to get any explanation of why the 15m of land was not part of the redevelopment.

He said they had no problems with the semi-detached homes and asked councillors to delay a decision until the long-term future of the rest of the site was clear.

Once the semi-detached houses are built, there will be no direct access to the undeveloped section of the current garden and planners had suggested access to the land, so it could be properly maintained, should be part of the planning permission.

The committee was warned it could only consider the application which was before it and could not tell the applicant he should develop the whole plot.