PLANS to demolish the original site of the Morgan Motor Company have been amended by developers to retain an historic building.

McCarthy and Stone applied in May for consent to knock down buildings on the corner of Worcester Road and Howsell Road and replace them with a sheltered housing block for the elderly.

However, after consultation with Malvern Hills District Council, it emerged that officer support for the plan was not likely to be given unless changes were made. It was felt that to demolish all the building would do nothing to enhance the Conservation Area.

The applicant has now submitted new plans retaining a Victorian house at 207 Worcester Road, currently serving as a petrol station shop. Buildings to be demolished include a car workshop and showroom belonging to Brooklyn Ford, which is due to move to another site in Malvern.

The site was home to Morgan from 1905, before the success of its three-wheeler car prompted the works to moved to its present home on Pickesleigh Road after the First World War.

In a letter supporting the application, Rob Cartledge, managing director of The Planning Bureau, agents for McCarthy and Stone, said that the proposal would provide much-needed sheltered housing and contribute to urban regeneration.

Mr Cartledge writes: "McCarthy and Stone and I remain of the view that the proposals contained therein will preserve or enhance the character or appearance of the conservation area, and we remain committed therefore to achieving planning permission for that scheme.

"It will also have established benefits by locating a less mobile clientele in part of the settlement reliant on local shops and services and underpinning the vitality of the district centre."

Mr Cartledge said he hoped the building would be completed by January 2004.

Chas Smith, vice-president of the Morgan Sports Car Club, said he had accepted that the site would be developed eventually, but suggested a memorial to Morgan should be placed at the site.

"We need to keep the memory alive," he said.

Keith Hill, chairman of Brooklyn Ford, said that the company had not yet found a new site.

He said: "We're still negotiating, we have three negotiations on-going at the moment. They are all within a three-mile radius of where we are now."

Mr Hill said he did not know how long it would be before a new site was chosen.

"There's no way to put a time on it at the moment," he said. "Ford requires us to have a presence in Malvern and a presence we will have."