Planning chiefs have decided a pair of empty semi-detached houses in a historic conservation area can be pulled down to make way for a supermarket car park after being told it would cost £137,000 to fix them.

Last month, Birmingham City Council’s planning committee demanded evidence that the seemingly sturdy houses on Pershore Road at the Kings Norton Green were beyond repair.

But after seeing a surveyor’s report, they have voted by seven to six in favour of demolition of the 110-year-old houses as part of a wider Co-op store development.

One of those against the plan, Coun Peter Griffiths (Lab, Kings Norton) said that any builder who had appeared on Homes Under The Hammer could do up the houses.

He said that the houses, which had been occupied until a year ago, were recognised as contributing to the character of the Kings Norton Conservation area.

“The surveyor seems to suggest that the roof is OK, the walls are OK and only need a little pointing, the cellars are OK, the chimney stack needs removing, a wall at the front needs reinforcing. Everything else is internal work. It’s the kind of things they do on Homes Under The Hammer.”

He said that the owner has left the houses for a year to the extent that they now need £137,000 worth of work which they are ‘disinclined’ to do.

And added that even with the extra car park space he doubted whether the proposed Co-op store would be able to easily handle large lorry deliveries.

Planning officials recommended the Co-op plan and demolition of the houses should go ahead. It was explained that the quality of the new shop design outweighed the modest harm caused by the loss of the two houses.

They also argued that it would ease the pressure for development at the Navigation pub nearby.

Committee member Peter Douglas Osborn (Cons, Weoley) had earlier stated that he believed the houses are of little value. “We’ve got to support he regeneration of this area. We may lose something but we gain a lot more,” he said.