RESIDENTS in the Pickersleigh Road area of Malvern are waiting to hear if a local field will be officially declared a village green.

Hayslan Field is owned by Malvern Girls' College and has for several years been at the centre of an access dispute between the school and people living nearby.

The field was once used as playing fields, but not for many years, and locals say they have been accustomed to using it for dog-walking and other recreation.

At the start of last year, the Pickersleigh Residents' Group applied to Worcestershire County Council to register the field as a village green. If approved, this would protect the land from any threat of development.

Hayslan Field is one of a number of fields and open spaces, which form a "green lung" between the town centre and the Pickersleigh Road area.

A report published earlier this year by independent barrister Nigel Giffin recommended a public hearing be held.

The hearing was held at County Hall on March 31 and April 1, including a visit to the disputed field. Now both sides are awaiting the decision.

Sam Hesketh, the college bursar, who attended the hearing, said: "We were told it would be ready around Easter time, but so far we haven't heard anything."

A County Hall spokesman said the hearing decision was due in three or four weeks.

An attempt to have the land declared a village green in 1995 was a failure. A plan by Malvern Hills District Council to buy the land was discussed in 1999, but the council did not have the money.