THE company that wants to build a cable car up the Malvern Hills is going back to the future with a new concept inspired by an architect friend of the composer Edward Elgar.

Malvern For All Ltd this week released drawings of an 1870s design by Troyte Griffith for a spa near the town centre, which they say could inspire a new design for the proposed cable car's base station.

A statement accompanying the plans said: "The classic design features a central cupola which could accommodate the mechanics and departure point of the cable car. Troyte Griffith and Elgar were technical adventurers who shared a love of cars, bicycles and other mechanical devices.

"Depending on the size of the final building, the long-discussed Malvern Hills visitor centre and the spa element of the Troyte Griffith design could be incorporated in one harmonious construction, adding an exciting new architectural feature for Malvern."

Mark Young of Malvern For All said that the idea is not a cut-and-dried proposal, but a starting point for renewed discussions about the scheme.

He said that the 1870s proposal was to build the spa on what is now Rosebank Gardens, close to where the cable car base station would be sited in the Malvern For All proposal.

"We just want people to haver an open conversation about the idea," he said. "It's not set in stone."

Ideas for a cable car, chairlift or funicular railway ascending the hills date back more than a century, and the latest proposal was unveiled in February 2014.

Malvern For All says it will help link the hills and the town, boost the economy and make the hills more accessible to the elderly and disabled.

However, the Malvern Hills Conservators have maintained all along that the acts of Parliament that govern the hills rule out any building or encroachment.

This week, Steve Bound, the Conservators' director, said: "Our position hasn't changed at all. As far as we're concerned, the acts rule out any

Malvern Hills District Council and Malvern Town Council also both voted earlier this year to have nothing to do with the scheme.

As well as the toposcope, Griffith designed All Saints Church in Lower Wyche, a number of local houses and the building on Belle Vue Terrace that now houses the Ask Italian restaurant. He was the inspiration for one section in Elgar's composition Enigma Variations.