AMBITIOUS plans for a community garden off Elgar Avenue got the enthusiastic backing of Malvern Town Council this week.

At their monthly meeting on Tuesday night, councillors voted unanimously to back the scheme, dreamed up by local residents, to turn a patch of wasteland into a community asset.

The land is owned by the town council, and has been identified as a site for low-cost housing, but has been unused for many years.

But now the council has agreed to let local residents have the land for three years, to allow them to create the community garden.

Coun John Wilcox, who proposed the resolution, said: "Three years is a reasonable time for something quite complicated to get off the ground."

Deputy chairman Caroline Bovey said: "Given the level of apathy that normally happens in Malvern, to quash the level of enthusiasm that the residents have for this project will be totally wrong."

""We're absolutely ecstatic about it," said Carrie Rice, who pioneered the idea with neighbour Louise Reeve. "Not one of the councillors was against it.

"Elgar Avenue has got a bad names, but it's not as bad as people make out, We've got to think positive and that's what we're doing. It's the residents wanting to make their community a nicer place to live."

Now the residents' group will be working to create more detailed plans for the garden, with funding coming from the South Worcestershire Community Safety Partnership.