LAST week we feared the then mystery offer of a piece of land for a new Malvern hospital would just be another delay to a project which seems to have made precious little progress this year.

Now, having seen more details of the offer, it might just be the move which finally gets Malvern the new hospital its has been promised for 25 years.

Increasingly, we have come to doubt whether we will ever see a new hospital built at Seaford Court and in many ways it is not the ideal site. Its main virtue has been that it is the only site, but it offers little room for future expansion of the hospital and vehicle access is not ideal.

The site now being offered behind Lower Howsall Road has neither of these disadvantages. Access would be easy off Newland roundabout and there is plenty of room to expand on a greenfield site that is being offered for free.

Neighbours will no doubt be concerned it would lead to housing development in the surrounding countryside, but this area is likely to be built on in the longer term, although this would be bound to accelerate that process.

If it means we finally get a hospital fit for the 21st Century, it might be a price worth paying.

IT was very disappointing to see attempts to re-stage the Newent Onion Fayre events, cancelled due to floods, being stopped at the last minute this week due to licensing problems.

As committee spokesman Eddie Wood told us, the Government's licensing regulations, if not interpreted more sympathetically, risk closing down community social events all over the country and crushing the enthusiasm of those who run them.