Selling Land in Malvern Hills

• Fields next to Malvern, Upton-upon-Severn or Tenbury Wells that sit outside the main views from the hills.
• Land on the edge of larger villages such as Kempsey, Powick, Hallow, Martley or Welland, read against any neighbourhood plan.
• Holdings west and south of Worcester that could help meet the city's needs in the next plan, outside the significant gaps.
• Former farmyards, poultry units and redundant traditional buildings with a workable access.
• Plots and backland inside the towns, which policy S4 treats favourably.

Most land we see here is farmland, and our farmland page explains how a holding stays in use while planning is pursued. We work under an option agreement with a price fixed at the start, above what the land is worth today. Every survey, report and application is paid for by us, and we put money towards the solicitor and land agent acting for you, so getting it done properly costs you nothing. Should permission not come, the land stays yours and nothing is owed. The full sequence is on how it works.

• An outright sale. You sell the land as it stands today, privately or at auction. The price is what a buyer will pay for it without planning permission, and the buyer takes on everything that follows.
• A conditional contract. You agree a sale now, but it only completes if planning permission is granted. Until then you keep the land, and the agreement sets out who applies for permission and who pays.
• An option agreement, the route we use. We agree your price at the start, in writing, set above what your land is worth today. We then pay for and run all of the planning work, at our own cost and risk. If permission is granted, we complete the purchase and you receive the agreed price on completion. If it is not, you keep your land and owe nothing.

For land that needs planning permission before it is worth more, an option means you know your price before any work starts and never spend a penny on planning. The ways to sell land for development, compared sets out each route in full.

The adopted plan sends part of Worcester's growth beyond the city boundary (policy SWDPR 68), and much of it lands in this district. Temple Laugherne, the Worcester West extension, is being built under permissions covering the whole site. The June report counts 932 homes finished there so far, 289 of them in 2025/26 alone. Broomhall and Norton Barracks, the Worcester South extension, spans all three council areas. By the councils' own counts, the district's completions rose from 459 in 2024/25, 204 of them on the Worcester extensions, to 733 a year later.

The adopted plan says Rushwick, like Worcestershire Parkway and Mitton, was chosen for its closeness to existing and proposed railway stations. The inspectors also had a significant gaps policy inserted, SWDPR 08, and it names Leigh Sinton, Worcester West and Worcester South among eight gaps to be kept open, so land between the new suburbs and the villages beyond is tested against that policy first.

The Malvern Hills were designated in 1959, and the National Landscape covers 105 square kilometres across parts of Worcestershire, Herefordshire and Gloucestershire. Its management plan for 2025 to 2030 stresses how much views matter, because high and low ground sit side by side, and warns that without careful planning the wider setting of the hills could be lost or degraded. It also accepts that local people need more homes, especially affordable ones.

The hills have already shaped the adopted plan. The inspectors' report of March 2026 required some proposed allocations at Malvern to be deleted because of their effects on the National Landscape or a Site of Special Scientific Interest. Five Malvern sites have policies of their own in the adopted plan:

• Cales Farm (SWDPR 58).
• North East Malvern, Newland (SWDPR 59). The June report lists 800 homes off the Worcester Road, reserved matters pending, and counts only 40 in its five years.
• Land south of Madresfield Road (SWDPR 60).
• Land on the south side of Guarlford Road (SWDPR 61).
• Land at Mayfield Road (SWDPR 62).

So a site within sight of the ridge needs landscape and visual work before anything else, and the number and height of homes follow from it. We commission that work at our cost.

The three councils launched a call for sites for the South Worcestershire Local Plan on 19 August 2026, and Wychavon's planning policy page gives its closing date as 30 October 2026. The councils say the government's new method for calculating housing need has raised South Worcestershire's figure considerably, and the new plan will run to 2049. Submissions are an information gathering exercise, tested through a land availability assessment, and may cover housing, new villages, self-build plots and employment land.

Later stages follow on a set timetable. The councils' published timetable sets out the stages:

1. Scoping consultation, timetabled for 18 September to 30 October 2026, alongside the call for sites.
2. Consultation on plan content and evidence, 21 June to 2 August 2027, when the first view of favoured sites is likely to emerge.
3. The proposed plan goes out for comment in summer 2028, from 12 June to 7 August.
4. Examination and adoption. The councils aim to submit the plan in October 2028 and adopt it on 30 April 2029.

Supply, Delivery and Rushwick

No date is given for the next supply report. The June figure clears the five-year target by 678 homes, and slower building on the strategic sites would eat into that. Should a later report fall short, S5 would treat the gap as evidence of need, and well placed land on settlement edges would gain a case ahead of the new plan. Released on 17 August 2026, the Housing Delivery Test 2025 is followed by a new edition each year. At 101%, Malvern Hills triggers none of its consequences. A result below 95% brings an action plan, below 85% a 20% buffer the supply already carries, and below 75% S5 without any supply argument. The Rushwick application, which the June 2026 report expected before the end of 2026, will show how quickly that allocation moves.

Reorganisation is on hold too. Plans to replace Worcestershire's councils with two unitaries, the southern one covering Worcester, Wychavon and Malvern Hills, were paused in September. As the three councils already plan together, a merger would change who decides applications more than the plan itself.

Open Land Into the Call for Sites, Town Plots Now

• Open land needing an allocation belongs in the call for sites before 30 October, with evidence ready for the 2027 consultation.
• Plots inside the towns and larger villages can be looked at now under policy S4.
• Unsure which applies? Our free review answers that. See our Worcestershire page for the county, and our call for sites guide for each stage.