Plan to demolish Malvern day centre for new homes could still go ahead

Keon Homes and Platform Housing wants to knock down the former Touchstone Day Centre in Geraldine Road, Malvern, and replace it with 28 homes but the plan was struck a blow last year when the move was rejected by Malvern Hills District Council’s planning committee.

However, the developers have now turned to the government’s planning inspector, which has the power to overrule the district council, in a bid to get the decision overturned.

The controversial plan was put forward in September 2021 and rejected more than a year later by Malvern Hills District Council’s planning committee despite the council’s own planning officers recommending the plan should be approved.

Despite the mass of objections to the new affordable housing, a call to approve the plan was just narrowly lost when it went to a vote with planning chair Cllr Julie Wood using her casting vote after the committee was tied by five votes to five.

District councillors said the plan included too many homes for the land – calling it “harmful overdevelopment” when it rejected the application last year and the layout would cause “a poor living environment” for future tenants if they were allowed to be built.

The original plan would have seen the former day centre demolished to make way for 37 affordable homes, but the scheme was later cut down to 28 homes following talks between the developer and council planners.

The contentious scheme was then put forward again with “minor amendments” by the developers just three months after it was rejected, with a decision still to be made by Malvern planners.

Eight bigger one-bed maisonettes now form part of the development and would meet space standards, according to the application and only around 90 per cent of the two-and-three-bed homes would meet the required sizes meaning some of the buildings would still not meet standards.

The day centre closed in 2016 and has remained empty after services were transferred to the Malvern Cube.