Stand up for us (From Ledbury Reporter)

Stand up for us

11:13am Friday 29th June 2012 in Letters

IT would be nothing short of an outrage if Malvern were to be confronted with a “revised” South Worcestershire Development Plan that shows little real evidence of notice having been taken of the local public’s concerns, as expressed very forcefully during the past year.

From the beginning, there was something disturbing about a plan with only one so-called “option”. We are surely entitled to expect that residents, not the vested interests of the major construction companies, should be listened to and their needs and priorities heeded.

Developers prefer largescale, greenfield sites for maximum profit, whereas our unique Malvern Hills environment deserves sensitive, small-scale and dispersed pockets of welldesigned, and especially affordable homes which, taken together, could achieve significant numbers in the hundreds.

Now, all the signs are that the planners – who no doubt find it simpler to give in to the pressures and blandishments of the developers – are intent on ramming through their still-preferred “option”, disregarding the need, not least, for convincing infrastructure plans.

Our councillors, half of whom opposed the plan the first time around, now have an opportunity to demonstrate to their electorate that they not only care about our area but that they also take very seriously their responsibility to speak out for those they represent.

ERIC JONES
Malvern