A NEW plan has been received for farm buildings off Guarlford Road in Barnards Green.

Cheltenham-based Foxley Tagg Planning Ltd has submitted the application to Malvern Hills District Council on behalf of W J Bullock and Sons.

It shows four buildings, a grain store, feed store, cattle shed and implement store/workshop, on land off Mill Lane, between Guarlford Road and the sewage works.

Planners threw out an earlier application for seven farm buildings and a farmhouse on the same site in December 2001. It attracted more than 330 letters of objection. Permission was refused because it would be "unduly prominent in the landscape" and cause traffic and flooding problems.

Prior to that, a plan by Mr Bullock to put farm buildings further west along Guarlford Road also aroused strong opposition and was refused permission.

In July this year, Mr Bullock was granted permission to redevelop the existing Mill Farm, which is now surrounded by housing, for residential use.

A report by Foxley Tagg Planning Ltd, submitted as part of the planning application, says: "The farm business requires a new farmstead to remain viable and operate successfully utilising 21st Century agricultural methods."

It says the new proposal is substantially different to the one thrown out 12 months ago, with only four, as opposed to seven, buildings.