MALVERN Town Council will consider plans to twin the town with a Czech spa resort later in the year, after a delegation has visited and reported back.

The council heard at its meeting on Tuesday, February 15, that members of Malvern Twinning Association are due to visit Marienske Lazne - formerly Marienbad - in the Czech Republic during April to discuss the possibilities of twinning.

Members of the twinning association gave a presentation, bringing the councillors up to date on the plans.

But councillors expressed worries about the twinning process, Coun Mike Selby said: "I have quite a lot of experience with twinning from my time in Germany. It does mean that everybody needs to get behind it and it's expensive and time-consuming."

Coun Adrian Ward said: "What concerns me is that as a town council, it's not clear what we are letting ourselves in for. There are a lot of implications in this."

Coun Ian Hopwood proposed that the council defer any further consideration of the twinning proposal until the association returns from its April visit and reports back to the council, which was accepted.

Roger Sutton of the twinning association said after the meeting that exploratory talks with the mayor and council of Marienske Lazne will continue, but without mentioning the town council.

He said: "We will encourage as many local groups as possible to support the concept – and it will fail without local support. We would like to accept the offer of the town council to return in May with an update."