CONTROVERSIAL plans to build more than 50 homes in a village look set to go ahead.

Applications for 25 homes in The Common in Abberley and 26 homes in Clows Top Road in Abberley have already been given the green light by Malvern Hills District Council (MHDC) with only the layout and design of The Common homes left to be approved.

Both plans were met with objections by concerned villagers and The Common plan was only given permission after government inspectors stepped in to overturn the district council's refusal.

The plan for 26 homes in Clows Top Road was signed off by MHDC at the end of last year with the layout and design of the homes in The Common, which includes ten affordable homes, expected to be approved in the next couple of months.

Approval for the homes comes after a five-and-a-half-year battle between the developer and the council after it was first put forward in August 2014 and rejected a year later.

Developer Piper Homes immediately appealed the decision and the government's planning inspector overturned the refusal and gave permission for the homes in March 2016.

The homes at Walshes Farm in Clows Top Road was first put forward in July 2016 and approved in March 2017.

MHDC signed off on the plans in September 2018 and agreed to the layout and design of the homes in December 2019.

A total of 25 objections were put forward by villagers in Abberley against the plan.

Abberley Parish Council also rejected to the Clows Top Road plan in 2017 calling the size of the development "unacceptable" and said there was no need to build homes outside of the development boundary outlined in the South Worcestershire Development Plan (SWDP).

The number of homes due to be built had grown from the 15 that was given permission in 2013. The council had rejected the plan and developer Crowle Properties Two Ltd lost the appeal but a resubmitted plan was deemed acceptable by MHDC later that year.