MEMBERS of Malvern Hills District Council brought to a close years of debate and wrangling when they approved the South Worcestershire Development Plan.

The council voted 25 to three, with one abstention, to approve the plan, which will see some 5,900 homes built in the district over the next ten years.

At Tuesday's meeting, Cllr Melanie Baker, the portfolio holder for development, said the houses being built under the plan would provide homes for hard-working families in the district.

Proposing the motion, she said: "We should all be proud of what we achieved together. It will give us great powers to resist proposals of unsustainable developments."

The motion was seconded by Cllr Tom Wells, leader of the opposing Lib Dem group, who condemned "political shenanigans" that had delayed the plan.

He said that villages such as Leigh Sinton, Powick and Welland had suffered from the speculative housing developments that had been approved while the plan was in preparation.

"We have some villages under siege from JCBs. We are providing satellite estates on the edges of Malvern and Worcester, nothing terribly exciting, nothing future-proofed," he said.

"For the first time in many years we will be able to gain some measure of control."

But he said that the problem of infrastructure, particularly the road links between Malvern and Worcester, had not been properly tackled..

"I fear that whatever improvements the county council can make to the Southern Link road will prove inadequate."

Cllr Julian Roskams, leader of the Democratic group, described the plan's progress as a "rather tawdry process" and said that rather than embracing it, most local residents gave it "reluctant acceptance".

Cllr Dean Clarke said: "It's a dreadful plan, but I'm going to vote for it because the alternative is worse."

And Cllr Anthony Warburton said that the plan promoted "executive developments, which will profit only here-today gone-tomorrow developers".

Malvern Hills originally rejected the SWDP in November 2012 and then reversed its decision a month later. Further delays were introduced after planning inspector Roger Clews ordered the number of houses across Malvern Hills, Wychavon and Worcester City to be increased from 23,200 to 28,370.