MALVERN Hills Trust chiefs feel they have addressed many of the concerns campaigners have with its hotly debated private bill.

The trust deposited its private bill, which aims to update its governance, to Parliament on Wednesday after months of intense criticism.

During a two-month consultation, many raised concerns the new legislation might give trustees free rein to do whatever they wanted on the hills- something board members dispute. 

But, as the long process of getting the bill passed through Parliament begins, trust CEO Deborah Fox has urged those who still hold concerns to talk to them.

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She told the Gazette: "This is the result of ten years of hard work and we have now got to the end of the beginning of this process, this is a really significant milestone for Malvern."

Campaigners submitted a 2,500-signature-strong petition against the bill in October. 

One of their biggest concerns included fears the trust may be able to build solar farms on the hills through its mooted new general power. 

While this concern was dismissed as misinformation by the trust, board members voted to make several changes to the bill before it was sent to parliament in an attempt to address several other issues that were raised. 

This included improving the drafting of the general power, appointing a trustee as a named point of contact with each local area and removing the idea of allowing fencing for animal health reasons. 

Mrs Fox added: "These changes definitely address some of the concerns about how a general power can be used, for example. 

“It’s really important anyone who has concerns about the bill meet with us and if there are any misunderstandings we can address these as well."

Vice-chair David Core added: "We tried to take full account of the feedback, and not everyone got what they wanted but we went through a robust process to consider the merits of each consultation comment.

“One of the things we haven’t been good at is communication, we need to be more open about the steps we are taking, we want to drive more engagement with the public as it will be particularly important before the bill passes through parliament."

People will be able to view the bill from Wednesday, December 4 on the Parliamentary website.

A hard copy will also be available to buy from the Malvern Hills Trust offices on Grange Road between 9am and 5pm every Monday to Friday, except bank holidays. 

It is expected the bill will take between two and three years to get through Parliament.