ANGRY residents packed into Malvern Cricket Club on Wednesday to make their voices heard on plans which could see 110 new homes built on Greenfield land in the town.

About 60 residents attended the lively meeting of the Malvern Link Forum in Regency Road to hear more about the plans for the former allotment site on land off Lower Howsell Road.

Among concerns raised at the meeting, which was also attended by Malvern Hills District Council members Clive Smith, Paul Tuthill and Mike Soley, were the impact on traffic, which is already often quite heavy in Lower Howsell Road, and the risk of flooding.

The meeting was led by Ron Harris of Summerfield Road, who said he was firmly in favour of keeping the area an open space.

"Malvern is a nice country, rural place – let’s keep it that way," he said.

After the plans were unveiled in June by planning consultants Harris Lamb on behalf of the Madresfield Estates a petition was set up against the development, which has now been signed by more than 700 people.

Mr Harris said a problem faced by rural towns such as Malvern was that there was no more room for new homes in Birmingham, so developers were looking at rural areas.

"I think Malvern will soon join up with Worcester," he said.

A similar application was made for the site in 1994 but was thrown out over traffic concerns, and Mr Harris said he felt the new plans - which have not yet been submitted to the district council's planning department - would suffer a similar fate.

Cllr Soley said a challenge the group would face was that the South Worcestershire Development Plan (SWDP) - which is due to set out future plans with regards to housing development in the region - had not yet been completed.

"Until the SWDP comes into force we can't do anything about it," he said.

"This has not come into force yet because our leaders haven't got it right yet."

The group is holding a stand in Worcester Road where anyone interested can sign the petition or find out more about the group.