THE GROUP behind controversial plans to build a cable car on the Malvern Hills has said it will obtain a legal opinion on acts preventing work on the historic landmark.
Malvern for All laid out proposals to have the car travelling from land at the southern end of Rose Bank Gardens, up Rushey Valley, to a point just below the summit of the Worcestershire Beacon.
But a special meeting of the board of Malvern Conservators saw the idea rejected by 21 votes to none.
However, Malvern for all has not given up hope and has said it will develop its proposals by getting the expert information on the Malvern Hills Acts, re-focusing on the ways of rejuvenating Malvern, making sure to have planning support from the district council and working on the need for appropriate funding for the project.
The group also said it will engage with the Chamber of Commerce, businesses in the area, the Conservators and the Malvern community.
Coun Roger Sutton, one of the directors in Malvern for All, said: “We sympathise with the board of the Conservators in that they had not been able to discuss the proposal beforehand and could hardly have been expected to vote in any other way.
“But we think they will find the Malvern Hills Acts are out of date and will need updating by Parliament, which will give them the opportunity to address the question of access.
“We are well aware of the sensitivity of the project and have to take the appropriate amount of time to consider all the objections and reach solutions in partnership with the Conservators and others.”
Coun Sutton added the group thought it would take eighteen months to reach the stage of being able to make a full planning application.
Stephen Bound director of the Malvern Hills Conservators, added: “The wording of the Malvern Hills Acts is extremely clear and unambiguous.
“They impose on the Conservators a legal duty to protect the landscape of the Hills and keep them free from buildings. In rejecting the cable car, the Board has done what is required of it by Parliament.
“Even in the unlikely event the Conservators had given permission for a cable car, another body would have prevented it from going ahead.
“We are funded by the local council tax payers, grants and charitable donations. For us to spend time on a scheme which has no possibility of proceeding would be an indefensible waste of money.”
