NEW proposals to build a nursing home on the site of Malvern's old community hospital have been unveiled.

The newest plan by developer Montpelier Estates is for a 46-bed care home, four fewer beds than in plans rejected by Malvern Hills District Council earlier this year.

The council said Montpelier's two proposals, one in a modern style and one more traditional, failed to justify the loss of the historic building in Lansdown Crescent.

But the new plans are likely to attract similar opposition to the previous schemes, as it still involves the demolition of the hospital building, which dates back to 1911.

Clive Hooper, chairman of Malvern Civic Society, said: "I haven't seen the latest plans, but if they involve the original building being knocked down, then we will be against it.

"Our position has always been that the building is an important part of Malvern's history, and should be preserved, as the district council recommended in its supplementary planning document for dating from 2007."

Montpelier Estates has maintained all along that it is impossible to adapt the hospital building into its proposal for a nursing home in an economically feasible way.

A report accompanying the application says: "The application scheme has been designed to respond to the refusal of previous applications for two alternative schemes, one with classical design references and the other in a contemporary architectural style. The

new application scheme represents a complete departure from the earlier proposals.

"It has been designed to address the issues raised in the reasons for refusal which have set out a number of the council’s design priorities for the site. This new approach means that the proposed new building is substantially lower than the existing redundant hospital building and takes greater account of its relationship with neighbouring property."

The hospital was a gift to the town from philanthropist C W Dyson Perrins, who also gave the town its library and and Dyson Perrins school.

The building became redundant as a hospital when the new community hospital in Worcester Road, Malvern Link, opened in 2011.