PLANS for more than 200 new homes on the edge of Worcester got the go-ahead this week.

Malvern Hills District Council members gave the green light to plans to build up to 150 homes at Grove Farm, to the west of Worcester, and another 66 on the Aston Coaches site at Broomhall, to the south of the city.

The Grove Farm plan, submitted by Spenhill Developments Ltd, is on a site bordered by Bromyard Road to the north and Grove Way to the west.

The proposed main access is via Bromyard Road off a new junction, with a second access at the east to connect with the University of Worcester site next door, and 40 per cent of the houses are proposed to be affordable.

The site is currently partly open land, and partly a Christmas tree plantation. Members of the northern area planning committee voted unanimously to approve it.

Coun Douglas Godwin: "This is the start of a massive series of applications to the west of Worcester. We've been waiting for some time for these to come forward.

"I just hope that if we grant this, we don't get another application in for 300 houses on the same site with less affordable housing."

The Broomhall plan, sent in by Clerkenleap Developments, is for 66 homes and a 32-bed care home on the mainly brownfield site, which is currently in use as a coach depot. The developer’s plans would see the existing buildings demolished.

The plan is once again a part of a larger servies of applications to extend the southern edge of the city of Worcester.

Committee members once again approved the plan unanimously, but urged that part of the Section 106 money that the developer will pay to provide recreational facilities is used on the site, not allocated to pa park some distance away, as originally envisaged.