Delay over bid to develop Gospel Centre on Ranalegh Road, Malvern, sparks fury - The Malvern Observer

Delay over bid to develop Gospel Centre on Ranalegh Road, Malvern, sparks fury

Malvern Editorial 10th May, 2017 Updated: 10th May, 2017   0

FURIOUS housing developers who have been waiting more than a year for a planning application to be approved by Malvern Hills District Council have slammed the authority for not resolving the issue.

Crystalight is still waiting for council officers to approve the plans – submitted on January 4 last year – to renovate the Gospel Centre on Ranelagh Road.

The Cheltenham-based housing firm, which owns the Malvern Link site, is working with Gospel Securities in a bid to turn the Grade II listed Old Chapel into offices while converting the Grade II listed Old Convent into 20 apartments.

Crystalight has had to spend more than £100,000 on repairs after the buildings were subject to 63 break-ins over the last year and chief exectuive Hekmat Kaveh told the Observer enough was enough, demanding action to be taken.




To add insult to injury, Mr Kaveh has been given a community protection order from the district council telling him to remove all graffiti from the walls of both the Old Chapel and Old Convent.

“We have been waiting over a year for this application to go through but the district council will not tell us what the hold up is.


“I have been developing in Malvern for more than 40 years but this is the worst case I have dealt with by far.

“People should be living in those buildings by now but the council is keeping us dangling.

“The council is missing out on hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of council tax so it just bewilders me as to why it is taking its time.”

But Malvern Hills District Council District chiefs have raised a number of concerns and objections to the proposals due to the heritage significance of the existing buildings.

Duncan Rudge, planning services manager for Malvern Hills District Council, said: “For the last eight months we have been trying to agree reasonable security measures to ensure these buildings are properly secured while respecting their special qualities and heritage value.

“These discussions are on-going.

“We will continue to work positively and proactively with the site owner to try and agree a scheme which addresses these concerns, but in the meantime it remains the owner’s responsibility to maintain the buildings irrespective of any redevelopment proposals.”

The district council added they could not put a timescale on when the planning application would next be up for discussion.

Planning permission of the buildings was originally granted in 2013 but that permission expired after the plans were not implemented.

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