TENBURY Town Council was packed with objectors anxious to block a controversial application to build more than 50 new homes in Tenbury.

A protest group has been formed to fight the proposal for 56 affordable homes on a site to the south of Morningside in the town.

They have won the backing of the town council in their fight against the scheme but been warned that it will be a tough battle.

Eric Hudson, the chairman of the town council planning committee, told the packed meeting that if the scheme is rejected by Malvern Hills District Council he believes there is a serious likelihood that the developer would win on appeal.

He said that there was a housing shortage and no denying that more affordable housing is needed. But he said the development was too intensive and based upon incorrect information.

Mark Willis, Mayor of Tenbury, reminded the meeting that the town council does not have the final say and the decision will be made by Malvern Hills District Council.

Natalie McVey, speaking for residents in the area, said that the proposal would present problems of safety and that the town did not have the services to meet the needs of the new residents that would be generated.

“These people would find themselves, isolated, unemployed and living in very cramped conditions,” she said.

Another local resident Roy Irvine, who lives in Berrington Road, fears that the development would damage the character of Tenbury.

“What would Queen Victoria make of her little town in the orchard,” he said.

“Putting 56 houses in such a small space will be a long-term threat to the character of the town. The idea should be for affordable housing to integrate into the town, not dominate.”

Of 56 homes proposed in the planning application, 39 of them would be for rent made up of eight one-bedroom homes, 14 with two bedrooms, 15 with three bedrooms and two larger homes.

There would also be 17 new homes, eight of them with two bedrooms and nine three bedrooms that are described as intermediate housing which would include shared ownership.

It is also intended that there would be 104 car parking places.

The scheme is being proposed by the Bristol-based developer Stonewater that was formed in 2015 following a merger between the Jephson and Raglan Housing Associations.

In a statement supporting the application, the developer says that the objective is to provide good homes for people who cannot afford to buy on the open market.

"This is in line with the government’s commitment to delivering 275,000 extra affordable homes by 2020 as stated by the Minister of State for Housing and Planning, Brandon Lewis MP, in his letter to all chief planning officers in England in 2015.

"It seeks to assist in achieving that commitment through the flexible arrangements proposed and specifically endorsed by the Minister in his letter."

However, the developer recognises that it may not prove practical to have every home occupied on an ‘affordable’ basis and there is an option to fall back on the legal requirement that at least 40 per cent of the properties will be affordable and a compensation payment made to the local authority for any that are sold on the open market.