Green light for Malvern Town Council's new headquarters

The new home for Malvern Town Council will be built in Victoria Park in Malvern after plans were approved by Malvern Hills District Council.

As well as new offices, the building will include a café with outdoor seating, two meeting rooms, a locker room for sports clubs and public toilets.

A former pavilion, which had been empty for a number of years, was demolished last summer to make way for the new building.

The building would be open seven days a week between 8am and 9pm, according to the application.

The new headquarters would encroach on the town park’s existing skate park which will temporarily close while the work takes place.

The town council said the “secluded position” of the skate park had led to “significant” anti-social behaviour and the work presented an opportunity to move it.

Some concerns were raised that the 12 parking spaces expected to be provided would not be enough and would result in cars parking in nearby residential streets.

Highways officers at Worcestershire County Council admitted the number of parking spaces might lead to parking in streets, it was not enough to object to the town council’s plans.

“The highway authority has raised no objection to the proposal and whilst the concerns raised related to potential car parking on nearby roadsides is not itself considered a sufficient reason to refuse the application,” the highways department said.

“There is no substantive evidence before the [council] to suggest that there would either be an unacceptable impact on highway safety or the … impact on the road network would be severe.”

The county council said the new building was in a “sustainable location” and it was expecting many people to arrive by foot or bike.

The town council first moved to Belle Vue Terrace in 2001 but decided that after two decades the building was no longer fit for purpose – calling it “inaccessible and increasingly unsuitable.”

It would be selling the building to fund the move to Victoria Park.