NEXT week sees decision day for one of the biggest planning applications that Malvern has seen in decades.

Members of Malvern Hills District Council will be called upon to decide whether more than 800 homes should be built on open fields on farmland at Newland, on the north-western edge of the town.

As well as the housing, the application, made by Gleeson Developments Ltd and Welbeck Strategic Land LLP, includes employment land, a care home, a community hall, shops and other facilities, as well as playing fields and green space.

The site, bounded by Lower Howsell Road, the railway line and Worcester Road, is allocated for housing in the South Worcestershire Development Plan.

But local opposition has been intense, focusing not only on the loss of open space, but on traffic issues.

Roy Winwood, of Stocks Lane, a long-time road safety campaigner, said: "Putting 800 houses and new employment land these, all served by only one access off the existing roundabout at Newland is just wrong.

"There are 24,500 vehicle movements a day over that roundabout now, and adding all those houses, and all those employees will just mean gridlock. It will bring the A449, Malvern;'s primary access from Worcester, to a standstill.

"I just cannot believe that people think it will work. Everyone living here is against this plan. It will be a disaster if it is approved."

The plan is also opposed by local parish councils, including Madresfield,, Newland and Leigh and Bransford, as well as by Malvern Town Council.

However, at Wednesday's meeting of the district council's southern area planning committee, members are being recommended by planning officers to approve the plan.

The officers report says: "The proposed development would result in economic benefits; employment during construction and thereafter following the completion of the commercial units.

"Upon the occupation of the dwellings it is likely that the occupants would contribute towards maintaining the vitality of local services and facilities. In the longer term the proposed employment development will attract inward investment leading to the creation of long and short term job in the construction industry as well as a range of employment sectors.

"The delivery of both open market and affordable homes would contribute to the continued economic and social sustainability of Malvern, a factor that attracts significant weight."

About the access, Worcestershire County Highways says: "The design is considered to represent the optimum solution, given the constraints of the available land, need to prioritise traffic flow on the A449 and to provide suitable pedestrian crossing locations."