{"id":829637,"date":"2026-03-16T13:29:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T13:29:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/829637\/"},"modified":"2026-03-16T13:29:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T13:29:17","slug":"council-row-erupts-as-malvern-hills-to-be-swamped-by-3500-new-homes-as-locals-rage-at-ludicrous-plans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/829637\/","title":{"rendered":"Council row erupts as Malvern Hills to be swamped by 3,500 new homes- as locals rage at ‘ludicrous’ plans"},"content":{"rendered":"

Plans to construct 3,500 homes on the foothills of the Malvern Hills have sparked outrage in the historic Forest of Dean.<\/p>\n

The Green-led Forest of Dean District Council is behind the proposal, which forms part of the Government’s target to deliver 1.5 million homes by 2029.<\/p>\n

Locals have branded the scheme “ludicrous” and formed a campaign group, United Against Glynchbrook, to oppose it.<\/p>\n

“It is ludicrous for a number of important planning and logical reasons,” retired obstetrician John Heap, 74, told the Mail.<\/p>\n

“We are being dumped with it simply because one farmer in the Forest of Dean has said he is prepared to sell the land.”<\/p>\n

The council’s own assessment concluded the Glynchbrook site was “unlikely” to meet the necessary criteria for development.<\/p>\n

The study found the location would “cause landscape harm” and “potential harm to heritage”, while being “poorly” located 10 miles from Gloucester.<\/p>\n

Transport concerns were also flagged, with the report warning the site “could lead to high reliability on transport by car”.<\/p>\n

\"Malvern<\/p>\n

Locals in the Malvern Hills have branded the scheme ‘ludicrous’ and formed a campaign group to oppose it<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

GETTY<\/p>\n

Despite these findings, the proposal was approved in a tied vote, with Green and Labour councillors backing it.<\/p>\n

Independent, Liberal Democrat, Conservative and Reform councillors all opposed the plan.<\/p>\n

Of 10 potential sites considered by the council, eight were deemed “unlikely” to satisfy the required standards.<\/p>\n

Residents fear the development will overwhelm local infrastructure and replicate past failures.<\/p>\n

PLANNING ROWS – READ MORE:<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

PICTURED: A map mock-up of the controversial Green-backed site<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

BLACK BOX PLANNING<\/p>\n

“The A417 is at capacity already and they want to push another 21,000 vehicle movements per day on to it,” electrician Neil Goodall, 59, from Redmarley D’Abitot, said.<\/p>\n

“If the road is flooded, which it has been, all these vehicles will be going down the small country lanes, driving to Gloucester and Cheltenham.”<\/p>\n

Mr Heap warned the Glynchbrook site sits on an established floodplain that floods completely every year.<\/p>\n

Locals worry the project could mirror Coed Darcy in South Wales, where promised facilities including schools and shops never materialised.<\/p>\n

\"Sheep<\/p>\n

Residents in the idyllic British beauty spot fear the development will overwhelm local infrastructure<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

GETTY<\/p>\n

But a council spokesman defended the ongoing process, saying no decisions had been finalised regarding any individual site.<\/p>\n

“All potential locations are being assessed against a range of evidence, including flood risk, transport and access to services, landscape and environmental impacts, and sustainability considerations,” he said.<\/p>\n

The council said it had written to central Government to challenge the housing numbers but confirmed no response had been received.<\/p>\n

A public consultation on the Glynchbrook proposal remains open until Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Any sites taken forward would face further detailed assessment and would need to meet all relevant national and local planning standards, the council added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Plans to construct 3,500 homes on the foothills of the Malvern Hills have sparked outrage in the historic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":829638,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[113921,10463,12,512,16,15,7858],"class_list":["post-829637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-uk","category-united-kingdom","tag-across-the-uk","tag-neighbour-rows","tag-news","tag-sgg","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-west-midlands"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116239097310741481","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/829637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=829637"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/829637\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/829638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=829637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=829637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=829637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}