THE drive towards providing more affordable homes in the Malvern Hills area is to be stepped up.

This follows a report by the Audit Commission that labelled the district council's efforts so far as "relatively poor".

Coun John Raine, portfolio holder for planning and sustainability, said the council had discussed giving affordable housing a really big push next year.

He said: "We don't want to be in the same position as this year, with a critical audit report."

Coun Raine said the main problem was that the council did not own a great deal of land. However, it was trying to help meet the target by allocating possible sites in large projects like North Site.

"Most major developments must have a proportion of affordable housing in them and we're trying to tackle it that way," he said.

The government announced this week that it is keeping the Exception Sites rule, which allows councils to go against normal planning rules and allow development outside the settlement boundary of towns and villages.

An application for affordable housing on Upper House Lane, Alfrick, was turned down recently after protests from existing residents.

"The council is committed to more affordable housing but there are also objections and sensitive issues. Alfrick is a recent example of that," said Mr Raine.

"We have to listen to opinion but we're in a very difficult position.

"We'll have to work harder to push the advantages and importance of affordable housing and try to identify more sites where it can happen."

Frank Hill, of the Campaign to Protect Rural England, was against the development in Upper House Lane, but said he was not opposed to affordable housing in general.

He said sites should be on land which is not of landscape or agricultural value and should be easily accessible to villages or towns.