CONCERNED residents opposing new homes being built on their doorstep are vowing to have their voices heard.

Peter Walter and other residents have joined countryside campaigners and Sport England in opposing the principle of any development of the old playing fields in Green Lane, Malvern Wells.

Mr Walter was speaking to the Gazette as – quite lawfully – “clearing of the site” had begun, he said.

The land is one of the possible site allocations contained within the South Worcestershire Development Plan (SWDP), and is estimated it could take up to 35 homes.

Mr Walter wants to keep site in the public eye, as it sits in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and was once a playing field – a state he believes it should be returned to.

He said vegetation and trees had been cleared from the land, but Malvern Hills District Council senior planning officer Duncan Rudge said no rules were being broken by the land-owner.

Mr Walter is also concerned the SWDP process is so large – it contains plans for thousands of new homes to be built in Malvern, Worcester and Wychavon between now and 2030 – that smaller developments may “get through”.

“This plan is so huge we feel the chances of anyone taking any notice of particular interest of our opposition is slim,” he said.

“Ideally this site will get dumped, as it has always been used as a playing field or it gets used for some sort of community interest – that’s what it used to be and that’s what we would like.

“Any homes built here would just spoil what is a beautiful area.”

Public consultation on the preferred option sites has already finished for the SWDP and a full list of submissions and other background detail is available at swdevelopmentplan.org Planners will consult in July on infrastructure to support the proposed new homes and employment land also contained in the SWDP. A draft plan is expected to be published in November 2012, but no final decisions on sites have yet been taken.