A MALVERN resident is angry that a hearing into her complaint against Malvern Hills District Council (MHDC) has been postponed for a second time.

Catherine Hall, of Clerkenwell Crescent, made the complaint about the council’s conduct when granting planning permission to Newtown Sports for facilities at Spring Lane.

She was initially told that her complaint would be heard by a meeting of the council’s standards committee on November 6.

However, this was postponed and a new date of November 30 was set. That too was postponed, and she has been told it will now not be heard until the new year.

The council granted Newtown Sports Junior FC a 25- year lease to the field in 2010 and in March this year approved the club’s planning application for two football pitches, changing rooms, a car park and an access road on the land. Both moves were strongly opposed by residents, who do not want to see the fields developed and say it will increase traffic through residential areas and see access lost to the open space.

Mrs Hall said: “My complaint is that the planning committee procedures were not conducted in a sufficiently disinterested manner.

“Council members should serve the communities that elect them. This proposal has been controversial, and local views have been ignored.”

She fears that with the postponements, work might even start on the site before her complaints can be heard.

MHDC spokesman Cathy Anstey said that both meetings were cancelled because not enough councillors could attend. The meeting is now set for 10am on Thursday, January 10.