NEW plans to develop a former gas works on the edge of Malvern have been submitted to Malvern Hills District Council.

Developer Jessup wants to build 18 houses on the mainly-disused site off Lower Howsell Road, on the northern boundary of the town.

An earlier application to develop the same site was refused permission in June last year, a decision that was upheld in April 2018.

In its refusal notice, the council said the proposal "would not represent a high quality development" and would "result in an insular enclave which would fail to integrate effectively with its surroundings".

It would also "introduce a significant urban form of development in this countryside location".

In its latest plan, the Staffordshire-based developer says: "This application retains the same number of dwellings but with smaller footprints and a reduced scale and massing, with mix of dormer bungalows and two-storey houses."

The site was originally a gas works supplying Malvern. More recently, it has been used as a gas distribution and maintenance depot.

Two areas of land have been retained by National Grid for these operations but the company has sold the rest of the site to the applicant.

The site is crossed by a public footpath that links Lower Howsell Road and Stocks Lane.

The railway line between Malvern and Worcester runs along the south-eastern boundary of the site, and to the north-east is the site containing mobile homes used by the showpeople's community.

To the north west of the footpath is an area of woodland that previously contained a gas holder, the remains of which can still be seen, which acts as a storage facility for flood water.

The earlier application was opposed by Malvern Civic Society, which said that the railway line forms "a clearly identifiable limit to development of Malvern in this area towards the settlement of Leigh Sinton".

"The development would erode the clear separation between these two settlements which, to date, has been carefully maintained such that the individual identity of Leigh Sinton has been preserved."