FOUR new or enlarged sites for travellers in the Malvern area are being proposed in a new consultation.

The sites are at Hillbee Farm, Welland Road, Upton upon Severn, Mountain View, Bastonford, near Powick, Willows End, Guarlford, near Malvern, and Main Road, Kempsey.

The four are among eight new travellers' sites which have identified for Worcestershire. Three of the rest are near Evesham and the other is just south of Stourport at Crossway Green.

If all eight currently proposed sites are approved, then another 35 caravan pitches will be available in the county.

The four Malvern Hills sites are due to be discussed at a meeting of the district council on Tuesday, when councillors are being asked to approve the document.

Three of the proposals are for enlargements of existing sites rivals, with three more pitches at Upton, and two each at Bastonford and Guarlford. The Kempsey proposal is for a new six-pitch site.

If the updated plan is approved by the council, and by the Wychavon and Worcester City councils, it will go to public consultation from February 28 to April 18.

The report says: “Unauthorised traveller encampments often result in costs for the local authority both to secure possession of the land if it is owned by the city council and for waste removal.

“These costs can be minimised or avoided altogether if there is an adequate supply of managed stopping places for travellers.”

It added that there was an identified need for “34 permanent traveller pitches across South Worcestershire up to 2018/2019”. These were primarily in Wychavon where there was a requirement for 33 pitches.

“There was a requirement for six pitches in Malvern Hills and a potential over-supply of five pitches in Worcester up to 2019,” the report added.

A further 20 pitches should become available in five or six years time, closer to Worcester. A site providing 10 pitches is suggested for the western extension of the city at Temple Laugherne and another one at the southern urban extension at Broomhall and Norton Barracks. Details of exactly where those sites might be have not yet been decided.

Malvern Hills District Council meets on Tuesday, January 30, at the Council Chamber, Avenue Road, Malvern, starting at 7pm.