AN ambitious scheme for a cable car on the Worcestershire Beacon has been soundly rejected by Malvern Hills Conservators.

At a special meeting on Thursday night, members of the body entrusted with the care of the hills voted 21-0, with one abstention, to have nothing to do with the idea.

Following the meeting, Malvern For All, the company backing the proposal, said they will continue to push the project, and accused Conservators chairman Helen Stace, of misleading the meeting, a charge the Conservators have rebutted.

Some 80 members of the public crowded into the Council Chamber off Avenue Road to witness the meeting, and gave the Conservators a round of applause after they reached their decision.

The scheme is being promoted as an attraction to revitalise the town. Malvern for All has received advice from a company which successfully operates a cable car at Matlock Baths, Derbyshire.

The group's proposal includes a base station off the Wells Road, just south of Rose Bank Gardens, with the cable car itself running up Rushey Valley to a point just below the summit of the Beacon.

At Thursday's meeting, Conservators' director Stephen Bound gave a lengthy presentation outlining reasons why the proposal should not be supported.

He said the Conservators' charitable objects included preserving the natural aspect of the hills and preventing building or encroachment, and allowing the cable car would go against these objects and the Acts of Parliament governing the Conservators.

He also said it would go against the Hills' status as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

During the public part of the meeting, Colwall resident Dwayne Martin said his family had lived in Matlock Baths for four years and although the Heights of Abraham cable car brought in many visitors, it did little for the local economy.

He said: "the main businesses are chip shops, arcades, tacky gift shops, ice-cream parlours and cafes. It very much has the feeling of a Blackpool in the Peaks."

And Martin Bird said creating the top station would mean "blasting out huge quantities of rock for this to take place.

The board resolved that it "does not consider it legally possible or appropriate" to approve any cable car or similar scheme, which would be "entirely at odds with the Conservators' objects", and "it would be inappropriate to spend any further time or resources on the matter, and will therefore not entertain any further approaches" on the subject.

After the meeting, Malvern For All issued a statement calling on Mrs Stace to resign "on the grounds that she mislead the Conservators on several matters".

It said: "Particularly inappropriate photographs were provided of cable car installations which bore no resemblance to the proposed Malvern scheme. Other misrepresentations concerned inaccuracies in reporting the cable car feasibility study."

It also said: "Buoyed by the increasing level of public support for the cable car Malvern for All will continue to advance the scheme at a national level."

But Mr Bound said: "Helen Stace has done an excellent job of chairing the Conservators over the past two and a half years including the handling of the special meeting. She made no comment at the meeting on the rights or wrongs of the cable car, conducting proceedings with all due impartiality. The call for her resignation is completely unjustifiable."