A REVITALISED industrial estate on the edge of Malvern could provide local firms with the next step up from Malvern Hills Science Park if a major redevelopment gets the go-ahead from planners.

The scheme to rejuvenate Blackmore Park industrial estate could also provide a solution as Enigma Park reaches full capacity.

A planning application was submitted to Malvern Hills District Council this week by Lauriston House Estates of Bristol and Mr and Mrs G Bowness.

Existing buildings on the 10-hectare site - which housed a Second World War hospital - could be replaced by up to 25,000 square metres of new units.

Existing small businesses and riding stables on the site would be relocated into purpose-built units.

The application is for outline consent, and development on the site will be in phases. A first phase is expected soon.

"The site is under-occupied and a neglected asset," said agent for the applicants Andrew Boughton.

He said that unlike other industrial sites it is screened by woodland and explained that development of a brownfield site already marked for industrial use would reduce pressure to develop greenfield sites

Science Park manager Nigel Shaw said its capacity, just four hectares, would be full within three years if nobody moves off the site, adding that the plans would be viewed positively by the Park if approved.

"We desperately need to see more areas for the sort of companies of the future to be able to build themselves up.

"Our emphasis is on incubating new companies and growing them on to a size where they can go a bit further afield. The problem is there isn't a lot of industrial land available that is attractive to the type of companies we tend to be spawning."

Ward councillor Toby Bruce-Morgan said the planning application was not unexpected.

"I would want to see the colour of the whole thing but I'd be supportive of some change there if a reasonable plan is put forward but I would underline the point 'reasonable'," he said.

West Worcestershire MP Sir Michael Spicer, who has been keen to see land at the former DERA North site set aside for 'clean' manufacturing industry, said the proposal would need to be carefully looked at.

The land is already designated employment land on the MHDC Local Plan so will not go towards making up the 20 to 30 hectares of employment land that needs to be found in the district by 2011.