THIS is the first image to show how a proposed eco-hamlet could look once it has replaced a disused incinerator.

The development would replace the old Worcestershire County Council incinerator at Haylers End, Hanley Swan, which is the equivalent in height of a 10-storey building.

Developers plan to submit plans for the scheme to Malvern Hills District Council next month following a public consultation which took place in February.

Architect Andrew Boughton of Worcester-based Boughton Butler said: “The public response overwhelmingly supported the removal of the incinerator, and a majority preferred the low-impact community option for 24 homes above all other options for development.

“Clearly the removal of the incinerator is something that is to be welcomed locally as it removes the prospect of incineration ever restarting on the site – but wholesale remediation back to land for farming is not an economic option.”

The architects for the scheme have offered a further opportunity to comment online about the proposals at their website boughtonbutler.co.uk.

The proposals will be available to view and a response form provided until Friday, December 4.

Important features of the scheme are the provision of a hub on the site, so people can work from home, a car club to reduce dependency on cars, allotments and a community energy scheme.

Biomass heating, wind turbine and solar power would generate power and the community would be in the style of a country estate village and may include storage space for produce from allotments.

People who buy the homes would get a share in the Home-Owners Association. Communal facilities could include allotments, the hub building, a village green, an energy centre and a recycling centre.

Mr Boughton said: “We do not suggest that the future residents will avoid the use of cars completely, grow all their food and never visit a supermarket.The proposal should be seen as a response to the negative aspects of modern living in suburban residential development.”

Mr Boughton said the developer would hark back to a pre-20th century way of living where people spent far more time in their own community and worked closer to home.

The properties, which are expected to be two-bedroom to four-bedroom, will be made of clay.

Reclaimed hardcore from the incinerator building will be cleaned and used to fill the basement voids presently occupied by the incinerator foundations.

Hedges and trees will be planted around the edges of the hamlet.