CONTROVERSIAL plans to build dozens of new homes between Malvern and Leigh Sinton have been rejected.

Beechcroft Land Ltd had put forward plans for up to 92 homes on land off Stocks Lane, Newland.

But more than a hundred residents wrote to Malvern Hills District Council to object to the proposal.

They raised concerns over a lack of public transport in the area, the ability of nearby schools to cope with the influx of people and the impact on local wildlife.

PROPOSAL: How the development could have been set outPROPOSAL: How the development could have been set out (Image: Powell Dobson Architects)

Neighbours also had a number of worries about the impact on traffic in and around Stocks Lane, including that it is not a safe place for children to walk to school.

Newland Parish Council objected to the plans, saying the site was “outside of the defined development boundary” and “an important and historic natural grassland”.

The parish council also said: “This minor road is a rural road connecting the A449 and A4103 trunk roads and crossing a rural manned barrier level crossing.

“The road does not have any substantial length of pavement, nor street lighting, and is subject to a 7.5-ton weight limit.”

County highways recommended refusal, saying the developer had not demonstrated that “safe and suitable access” could be provided for all road users.

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“The proposed development does not offer a genuine choice of sustainable travel modes and minimise the demand for travel,” highways officers said.

Malvern Hills Trust objected to the plans, pointing out that it owns Newland Common and would not give permission for a two metre-wide footpath to be built as proposed.

Council planning officers said the site’s “poor accessibility in terms of pedestrian links” counted against it, while its roadside location would “impose and urbanise this rural settlement”.

“Furthermore, the site is disconnected in terms of its accessibility to the wider locality lacking a continuous footway and without street lighting and approached along a busy through lane.”

They said that although the proposal would help address the council’s current housing shortfall, this was outweighed by “significant harms”.