A DECISION on whether to allow a derelict Winchester property to be redeveloped has been delayed.

Planners were due to consider an application to develop the St Cross home this morning.

But the hearing of the scheme - for Chestnut Mead in Kingsgate Road - was postponed for an ecology survey to be carried out.

The house has already stood unoccupied for three years.

Planners had recommended approval of the contentious plans, which have attracted 34 letters of objection from nearby residents.

They say the scale of the development is too large and that the property should be retained as a family home.

The proposals include putting three four-bedroom homes and three two-bedroom flats on the site.