THE chairman of Worcester’s planning committee has appealed for common sense over an ailing housing blueprint – insisting “we’ve got to have a plan” for warning off unwanted development.

Councillor Geoff Williams said the South Worcestershire Development Plan (SWDP) may be controversial, but it’s better than having nothing at all.

The SWDP, which earmarks land for 23,000 homes by 2030, is on the verge of collapse unless Malvern Hills District Council approves it tonight.

Coun Williams said: “We are in unknown waters with this, Malvern could decide to agree the SWDP, or it could not.

“In relation to the planning process, my view is that you need a plan.

“Creating that plan might be complex, it can exercise people and may cause disagreements but for a degree of decision making locally, when it comes to planning, having a plan is vital.

“Otherwise you run the risk of developers winning their case on appeal, by going to the planning inspectorate and that isn’t a position we want to be in.

“You’ve got to have a plan in place otherwise from a planning perspective we’ll be worse off.”

The comments follow appeals from fellow Worcester politicians for Malvern Hills District Council to agree it this evening.

The SWDP has been drawn up in conjunction with Worcester City Council and Wychavon District Council and requires approval from all three areas in order to be submitted to the Government.

Last month councillors in Malvern voted in favour of sending it back to the drawing board over housing allocations in Newland, Malvern and south Worcester.

But Coun David Hughes, Malvern’s leader, has asked for the authority to reconsider their decision, a plea which has led to rivals submitting a no confidence motion on his leadership.

Coun Clive Smith, one of Malvern’s main critics of the SWDP, said: “We’ve already made our views on this perfectly clear.

“We’ve given David Hughes a mandate on taking it back to the drawing board.

“We don’t need another vote.”