AROUND 100 residents turned up to a public meeting at St Richard’s House in Droitwich to see the plans for Yew Tree Hill.
It was the first chance to see how some of the 765 homes on the site would look.
Outline planning permission was granted by the Secretary of State after the proposals were thrown out by Wychavon District Council.
Representatives from developers Persimmon were also on hand to speak to residents and answer questions and the latest plans were about detailing the layout, landscaping and the position of the houses.
Reporting back to Droitwich Town Council’s planning committee on Monday, Coun Richard Morris said: “I would love to reject it but we have lost the appeal and we now know it’s going to go ahead so all we can do now is try to get the best for the residents.”
He praised the residents for turning out to the exhibition of the plans and Persimmon for sending representatives to the meeting.
But Coun Morris hit out at the Highways department, the South Worcestershire Clinical Commissioning Group and the Worcestershire County Council’s education department over their response to a request from the town council for them to attend the meeting.
He said the authority had tried to get all three organisations to come to Droitwich to explain their plans for dealing with the potential increases in the town’s population but, as yet, none of them had come to the table.
A spokesperson for Worcestershire County Council said: “Worcestershire County Council, as Highway Authority was consulted on the Yew Tree village application and made its recommendations to Wychavon District Council as Planning Authority.
“The recent meeting concerned reserved matters relating to the planning application and, as such, Highway Authority representation was not appropriate.”
David Mehaffey, director of strategy for NHS South Worcestershire Clinical Commissioning Group, said the CCG was aware of the impact that the South Worcestershire Development Plan may have on the health infrastructure across the area.
“Through the consultation process we shared our views with the district councils, in particular our concerns about the additional pressure on hospital services and GP practices.
“We have also worked with the district councils to agree a joint Memorandum of Understanding that sets out how we jointly approach these issues.
“As part of that we have a specific agreement in place to explore the effect on health services and in further meetings we will want to explore the appropriate use of community infrastructure levy funding that comes with the developments.”
Speaking for the education department, Coun John Campion, Worcestershire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Children and Families said: “The council has invested significant resources to expand schools to cater for the growing number of school-aged children across the county.
“As these children move up through the school system, work continues to provide additional places where needed.
“The council is meeting its statutory duty to offer every child a place and as can be seen from the data, a high percentage of last year’s parents/carers were offered a place at one of their preferred schools.
“I am confident that this will remain the same in the coming years but would urge parents to be sure to apply on time and to make use of the three preferences of school which they are allowed to nominate.”
