PLANS to open up a charity shop in a prime Church Street site have been condemned by a leading town trader.

The British Heart Foundation wants to occupy the empty shop unit at 61-65 Church Street, on the corner of Church Walk. The premises were occupied by a sports shop, which shut its doors last year.

But the move has been opposed by Robin Elt, chairman of Great Malvern Association of Trade.

He said: "This is extremely bad news for the town. That site is one of the prime retail locations in Malvern and losing it to a charity shop will damage the town centre's retail profile. I have no objection to charity shops, as long as they are in secondary locations, but we will oppose this one."

The charity has sent in a planning application to Malvern Hills District Council for alterations to the faade.

Colin Sandford, of BHF, said: "We find this reaction quite often but once we set up shop we find there are no complaints."

Sharon Grey, MHDC's economic development officer, said: "There is a place for charity shops and for the charities themselves, of course, they are an absolute lifeline, but there has to be a balance.

"Malvern town centre needs a variety of shops selling all sorts of things, and too many charity shops can throw off the balance."

She said the council was looking into the reason why the town had such a high rate of shop units left empty or occupied by charity shops.

"Anecdotally, it's possible that Malvern has a high proportion of absentee landlords, pension funds and so on, which would not have the same attachment to the town as local landlords. But we need solid research to establish want the reasons really are," she said.