MALVERN Town Council has voted overwhelmingly to have nothing to do with plans for a cable car on the Malvern Hills.

At the meeting on Tuesday evening, Cllr Peter Smith presented a motion calling on the council to disband its cable car working party and to have no connection with the project whatsoever.

"The position of Malvern Town Council should be that of Malvern Hills District Council, which is not to be involved at all," said Cllr Smith.

"Malvern Hills Conservators have rejected it, saying it goes against the acts of parliament, and any further involvement in the project will undermine the Conservators' decision and bring the town council into disrepute."

But he said that members of the town council should be free to support the cable car idea as private individuals of they wished.

Members voted 12-1 with one abstention to support Cllr Smith's resolution.

Cllr Brian Regimbeau said: "People have talked about the impact of the pylons on the hillside, but we've also got to bear in mind the impact of the installation at the start, at Rose Bank Gardens. It will be huge."

And Cllr Helen l'Anson said: "These are just hills, they are not mountain peaks, not ranges."

A second motion by Cllr Mike Charles, calling for the council to invite a presentation on the project, was withdrawn before the meeting. Cllr Charles told the Gazette after the meeting that, although he had been a director of Malvern For All, the company proposing the cable car, he had resigned in February.

Richard Edwards, who recently founded Voice of The Malvern Hills to oppose the proposal, said: "I'm pleased that the council made this decision. The level of public opposition, the dame it will do to archaeological and geological features on the hills, and the fact that the business case made by Malvern For All is deeply flawed are all good reasons to oppose this."

But Roger Sutton of Malvern For All said that the group will press on with its plans, and was hoping to introduce it into the proposed Malvern Neighbourhood Plan.

He said: "With upcoming elections, the complexion of the town council may change, and in any case they will be able to revisit the decision in six months' time."