Ex-Astons Coaches' Bath Road site affordable homes plan

Plans to build 79 affordable homes on the old Astons Coaches depot off Bath Road, between Worcester and Kempsey, have been approved by district planners.

It is one of a number of new developments being built on the outskirts of Worcester and the site sits within an area earmarked for development called the Worcester south urban extension.

According to planning documents, the scheme will help meet housing targets for both Worcester and Malvern Hills.

The development will include a mix of two, three and four-bedroom houses, two-bedroom bungalows and one-bedroom flats - a similar mix to the new development at the Ketch roundabout.

The site sits within the Worcester south urban extension area (Image: MHDC)

All properties will qualify as ‘affordable housing’ and 40 per cent will be available for social rent.

Social housing provider Stonewater will take on the development when complete.

Kempsey Parish Council had raised concerns over the layout of the development, the lack of a play area for families and the setting of the listed building Clerkenleap Farmhouse.

Neighbours questioned the impact more homes would have on local infrastructure.

Sharon Sanders said: “How many more houses can this area absorb? Thousands have been built over the past few years, but no improvement to health facilities and hospitals.

“Even before Covid, Worcestershire Royal Hospital was too small to meet the needs of the local population and now the situation is dire.”

But Malvern Hills District Council planning officers said the proposal is in accordance with the South Worcestershire Development Plan (SWDP).

The revised SWPD, which is currently being evaluated by the planning inspectorate, is a blueprint for where some 11,000 homes should be built in the south of the county by 2041.

This includes the development of a 5,000-home town at Worcestershire Parkway, 2,000 homes at Throckmorton Airfield near Pershore and another 1,000 homes in Rushwick.