Councillors have been told they need to be "more canny" when refusing planning applications after Government inspectors overturned their refusal of a 10-bed house in multiple occupation.

Ashfield District Council's planning committee saw its refusal of an application for what's known as a 'HMO', in Albert Street, Hucknall, reversed on appeal by Whitehall after inspectors said councillors did not provide "clear evidence" for why it shouldn't go ahead.

The plans, submitted by Castle Rock Projects, were turned down over concerns with car parking, with developers planning to convert two homes into the 10-bedroom property and create a rear extension.

The committee, which sat in January this year, felt there wasn't enough parking for the 10 bedrooms and also echoed residents' concerns about privacy, noise, disturbance and anti-social behaviour.

But their refusal went against officers' recommendations, with the council's planning department advising councillors the plan should be given the go-ahead as no official objections had been raised.

Now the same committee has voiced its anger after confirmation the decision has been overturned, meaning the HMO will go ahead.

Councillor Jason Zadrozny (Ash Ind), the council's leader, sits on the committee and opposed the plans in January's meeting.

Speaking after the most recent meeting on Thursday (August 25), he told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "I'm always annoyed when we make a decision locally and then the Government overturns it.

"We don't do it lightly – particularly when it's against officer recommendations – because we pay professional planning officers to look at these things.

"We sat and deliberated this because we don't just not think things through. I think this will cause significant harm – it's a very small, narrow street and to turn two terraced homes into ten rooms will be a real problem."

Cllr Samantha Deakin (Ash Ind), who represents Central Sutton and New Cross, told the meeting she will "stand by" the decision to refuse the HMO.

She said: "The inspector may not have agreed but I agree with the decision we made.

"We made it for our residents and for our areas as we know them and we live in them, so I still stand by what we did."

However, officers told the committee their decision to go against recommendations "wasn't substantiated".

They were told they needed to provide specific evidence for why it shouldn't go ahead rather than focusing specifically on national planning policies.

And they were told it was difficult to refuse the plans around highways and parking when Nottinghamshire County Council, the local highways authority, had not objected.

Christine Sarris, a senior planning officer, told the committee: "We need to be a little more canny about substantiating our reasons for refusing.

"For instance, if we're saying there's insufficient – by how much? What would be insufficient? We need to be a little more specific about it.

"I think we have to be a lot more precise in our reasoning about what's going on."

In a report, the inspector found the plans would not contradict any housing policies in Ashfield or have an impact on the "residential character" around Albert Street.

They also found the living conditions of neighbouring properties would not be "unduly affected" by the plans, particularly around outlook, privacy, noise and disturbance.

And they added the new HMO would not "significantly increase the demand for parking on the surrounding streets, and it would therefore not be harmful to highway safety".

In making the decision, the inspector also told the authority it must pay the applicant's costs for the appeal process.

The report does not confirm how much the council will have to pay.

Castle Rock Projects has been contacted for a comment.