PLANS for a major urban expansion on the northern edge of Malvern will be coming back before district councillors this evening.

The application for Newland, by Gleeson Developments Ltd and Welbeck Strategic Land LLP, includes 800 homes, land for employment development, a care home, 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.

The application, which was originally submitted in 2015, came up before Malvern Hills District Council’s southern area planning committee in November.

But instead of making a decision, the committee decided to defer the application to allow planning officers to have further talks with the applicants on issues such as the lack of a primary school in the plan, problems with the single access off the Newland roundabout and a lack of affordable housing.

At the latest meeting of the same committee tonight, members are being advised to approve the application.

The meeting is at 6.30pm at the Council Chamber, Avenue Road, Malvern.

The first version of the planning application included a new primary school, but this was omitted in a later revision.

Other changes in the revised plans include: removing a proposed cemetery, increasing the size of the playing fields to include three football pitches and a cricket pitch, enlarging the community hall, and increasing the 'green infrastructure', which includes open spaces, woodland, community orchards and allotments.

If the plan, one of the biggest to come before Malvern Hills planners for many years, is approved, the building is likely to take some years, according to a spokesman for the developers.