CONTROVERSIAL plans for a new Malvern Hills District Council building were given the green light by councillors at the latest full council meeting.

The plans for a £1.4 'community hub' were discussed at the meeting held at the Council Chamber in Avenue Road, on September 27.

The proposal by Malvern Hills District Council is to knock down the existing council chamber and replace it with a larger 105 seat multi-use building connected to the existing Council House on the same Avenue Road site.

The new building would include large meeting rooms, which could be hired for events and meetings, and a new reception area meaning the council would be open to the public again for the first time in years.

It was also proposed to market Brunel House for rent or sale.

The council says it needs to act as the current council chamber is nearing the end of its life, is not fit for purpose and will cost £180,000 in maintenance costs alone over the next five years.

But before the item was discussed by members, the meeting began with the public participation section in which appeals were made to to defer the item and consider other options, including moving to the Grange - a currently disused Victorian building on the edge of Priory Park.

Bob Tilley, of Malvern Civic Society's community led Grange steering group, said: "We support much of what is recommended in the report, we support the generality of the recommendations.

"Bringing council staff together in one site and reducing costs is good. Developing better conference facilities here in the centre of Malvern is also good.

"However the report has not considered building at the nearby council-owned Grange building.

"We urge you, the council, to carefully research our plans."

Philip Rumney, a former councillor, also spoke against the plans, saying the council offices should be built on land next to Malvern Splash, in Priory Road.

"I fear a really great opportunity to make Malvern great is about to be lost," he said.

But when discussions began on the item Cllr Paul Cumming, responsible for finance at Malvern Hills District Council, ruled out these options explaining contracts had already been exchanged on the Malvern Splash site.

"We are going to have to look at the Grange in future, and what we do with that.

"But we need to look at what's best for the running as a council," he added.

He said the scheme represented an opportunity to solve a number of issues, and in the process make savings for years to come, adding the £900,000 being spent (on the new community building) should be seen as "an investment in our property".

The item was put to the vote, and was unanimously backed by members of the council.

The scheme is subject to the approval from the authority's planning committee.

Work to redesign the inside of the Council House will start in October 2016 and take four months to finish.