THE champagne corks were popping after Malvern Town Council's meeting this week when people from Elgar Avenue were given permission to turn some waste land into a community garden.

Members of the Elgar Regeneration Group were so pleased with the response from councillors, who voted unanimously in favour of the idea, that they bought champagne to celebrate.

Elgar Avenue resident Carrie Rice said: "It is absolutely amazing. We are all so excited. We went out and bought two bottles of champagne after the meeting. We are so grateful. We wanted to stand up and shout and scream."

The former allotment site at Elgar Avenue is owned by the town council and has been suggested for possible development as affordable housing. However, it is outside the town's development zone and subject to a statutory allotment order.

Town clerk Richard Chapman said the development proposals were "not going anywhere fast".

"It has been an abso-lute eyesore. We have cleared it of TVs, washing machines, fridges and brambles, which cost us £4,000.

The council is permitting the group to design and create a new community space on council-owned land. The agreement is for three years.

"The council has agreed to this subject to them getting back to us with some designs, a financial plan and a management plan.

Two town councillors, Caroline Bovey and Patrick Mewton, will join the regeneration group."

Mrs Rice said the group, consisting of 10 members, had worked with Madresfield Garden Design and presented some ideas to the council. They now wanted to involve as many people as possible from Elgar Avenue in coming up with the final plans and creating the garden.

"It is for everyone to benefit. The more people we can get involved the better. We will be holding a meeting at the Pickersleigh Centre and everyone can come along.

"We cannot wait to get our wellies on. It is really exciting. We want to make the community a nice place to be. I'm looking forward to a couple of years time when we can step back and look at what we have achieved."

A date for the meeting is yet to be agreed, but members of the group will be delivering leaf-lets and visiting other Elgar Avenue residents to inform them of the latest developments.