A NEW road to ease traffic flow through Malvern Link should be provided as part of the North Site development, according to a leading Malvern councillor.

District and town councillor Roger Hall-Jones thinks a road to join Leigh Sinton Road to Townsend Way at the Newland roundabout would ease any traffic congestion caused by the planned housing estate and business park.

Coun Hall-Jones said the idea for the road was discussed by Malvern Hills District Council at the planning stage of the Townsend Way development about 14 years ago.

"The roundabout at Newland is placed where it is so a link could be made to the north of Malvern," he said.

"It would take the traffic out of Malvern Link and Newtown Road in particular."

MHDC has suggested that up to 400 new houses and ten acres of business development could be provided at the redundant army base.

Coun Hall-Jones, who is the chairman of Malvern Town Council, also said he felt North Site should be integrated into Malvern and not become a separate village.

"The new development should be part of the community in that area, not a new community in its own right," he said.

Asked about the new road, MHDC's head of planning services Gary Williams said: "The general view is that highways issues associated with North Site can be accommodated within the existing highways network and infrastructure."

However, he said the eventual developer of the site would have to carry out a full traffic impact assessment and devise a traffic management plan.

The Malvern public have until February 27 to respond to both the Local Plan and council ideas for North Site.

Mr Williams said the local plan had been generally well received and two surgeries about the North Site development, held last Tuesday and on Monday evening, were well attended.

He urged people who may have made representations to the council before to resubmit them, as only comments received during the current six-week period could be considered at a Government inquiry.