FOR all the talk about councillors having less power and local government being increasingly irrelevant, the deal announced this week for a possible new health centre to be built at Pickersleigh Road shows what is still possible for a positive and pro-active council.

When South Worcestershire Primary Care Trust announced in February that it wanted to move the surgeries at Court Road and Victoria Park to Townsend Way, it provoked howls of protest from residents and councillors alike.

With the PCT desperate to find an acceptable site, the situation, as does the future of North Site, presented MHDC with a real opportunity to actively influence the shape of development in the town, and this week that is what it has done.

The PCT has already responded positively to the proposal that it should build a new health centre at the council's depot site, but the really clever thing about this deal is that it would tie the development into a timetable for real progress on the town's long-awaited new hospital.

There may be genuine cause for optimism that work on a project that has been promised for over a decade may actually start within the next two years - the council should insist on it.

The other move we welcome is to involve the whole council in a full debate on health issues in Malvern before a decision is taken.

The new administration at MHDC faces a number of major issues about the future of the district. It won't always be possible to find solutions which make everyone happy, but this has been a very encouraging start. Now for North Site!