SIR – Your article “Villages ‘off guard’ for new homes” (Worcester News, October 12) clearly demonstrates the great confusion surrounding the Worcestershire housing plans.
The recent examination in a public report proposes the building of yet more houses – to a new total of 25,500 in south Worcestershire. Furthermore, in Lower Broadheath alone (a village with just 760 houses, in Malvern Hills district) the proposal is to build 3,500 houses on good quality farmland. So the correct housing figure for the Malvern Hills District Council area is in fact over 8,500 – not the much lower figure of 5,122 quoted by Coun Tom Wells. It’s also untrue to say that local parish councils are unaware of the proposals – many have been fighting them for more than two years.
We all recognise the need for new homes to be built to meet local demand, whether in the county’s villages or cities. But the Government’s proposals to dump these massive numbers in south Worcestershire, without new roads, new employment or proper infrastructure, are completely disproportionate and unacceptable. We could all be caught “off guard” by such a planning disaster.
Paul Swinburn
Chairman, Save Elgar’s Village Action Group.
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