The Sub Committee continues to meet monthly and has a very reliable attendance record of members and, sometimes, non members who have concerns about planning matters; we are fortunate in having a good pool of expertise and a steady number of people consult us.
The most important work of the sub committee is the scrutiny of the planning applications submitted to the MHDC. Bearing in mind that the Society is primarily concerned with history, heritage and protecting the appearance of Malvern, we comment on those applications which fall into those categories. Our comments are by no means negative and we attach great importance to the annual Society Award for best new building in Malvern.
On the other hand, we do take a positive view on, for example, over development; almost by definition, developers try to squeeze too many units into their development projects and we try to suggest a compromise with a view to protecting garden space, trees and the street scene. Flash flooding and the use of the flood plain has been in the news recently and we are pressing for more attention to be paid to new developments because, in a hilly area, any new building will result in the diversion of natural water flow. One recent planning application involved building a house over a stream - with strange results when it rained.
Facelift is also managed by the sub committee and Dudley Brook has had considerable success in talking to shop owners and persuading them of the benefits of repainting and tidying up their premises. We think that we can make Malvern a more attractive place to visit with consequent benefit to the shopkeepers and the town in general. See picture (above) showing the work that has been done on the WH Smith's shop, the Unicorn and the building on the corner of St Ann's Road. The success of Facelift has encouraged the Civic Trust to engage with the MHDC and the Town Council in a new project to revitalise historic towns entitled High Street UK - Malvern is the first town in the country to undertake this programme.
The Local List is a project to which we attach great importance. Its purpose is to document interesting buildings in the town as a guide for Planning Officers. It is of course not possible to include all interesting buildings in a national list - particularly in Malvern where large areas of the town are of architectural and historic importance.
The Committee also has a forward thinking role - to identify areas of the town and/or the way in which it is administered - to suggest changes to the MHDC.
One good example of this is the work that is being done to find out if part or all of West Malvern could be designated as a Conservation Area. Unexpectedly, West Malvern has few listed buildings and no general protection such as that offered with Conservation Area status; with St James's School on the market and, potentially, a target for a range of developments, some protection is important. Notwithstanding, St James's, West Malvern has a distinctive character and history which should be protected. It is sometimes thought that Conservation Area status imposes restrictions on house owners but the reality is that the Conservation Areas status enhances house prices and sometimes gives entitlement to grants.
Malvern St James College
We are pleased that the merger of Malvern Girls' College and St James's has been successful and look forward to a reinvigorated school in the centre of the town. The College has a considerable asset portfolio which is being used to fund improvements to the facilities.
Ivydene in Albert Road North has been sold and the new owner has applied for planning permission to build some apartments in the garden - the Society took the view that the application constituted over development - too many apartments - and asked the Planning Officer to establish what plans were in the pipeline for Ivydene itself.