A CONTROVERSIAL housing scheme at a former school site in central Malvern was given planning consent this week in the face of local opposition.

The Croftdown School site has been empty since July last year, when it was closed by its owners Malvern Girls' College.

The two-acre site, between Abbey Road and Wells Road, is at the heart of Great Malvern's Conservation Area.

Laing Homes applied to convert the main schoolhouse into six apartments, demolish the rest of the school buildings and build 12 townhouses and six flats.

Malvern Town Council opposed the plan, listing overdevelopment and access worries among its objections.

Several Abbey Road residents also raised objections, many of which focused on the entrance to the site, which is very close to Abbey Road's junction with Priory Road.

But Ward councillor Roger Hall-Jones said the site could be reopened as a school without any planning consent needed and that could potentially generate far more traffic than housing.

Malvern Hills District Council's southern area planning sub-committee, which met on Monday evening, voted to approve the plan.

The planning approval is subject to numerous conditions, including a legal agreement that the developer should contribute cash towards developing recreational facilities in the town.

Other conditions cover the detail of the new buildings and layout measures to protect the trees on the site.

The sub-committee also gave Conservation Area consent for the demolition of existing school buildings, including a gym and mobile classrooms.

Croftdown is the third former school site in the centre of Malvern to be converted to housing in recent years. The other two were Lawnside, off Avenue Road, and Hillstone, off Como Road.