A PETITION against the proposed development of 50 holiday lodges in a woodland has received over 1,200 signatures.

Critics argue that plans to build lodges in Langdale Wood, off Blackmore Park Road, near Malvern, will destroy the woodland.

But the Three Counties Agricultural Society previously said there was a shortage of accommodation in the local area and that the project would help to secure its financial future.

Samantha Charles, chair of the West Worcestershire Labour Party, said: "It's going to destroy a magical, beautiful wood people have walked in for many years.

"There's a lot of people that walk there regularly, it's one of the only places in Malvern you can walk that's flat.

"It would be an absolute travesty to destroy it."

Ms Charles dismissed the society's claim about the shortage of places to stay in Malvern.

She said the only weekends when accommodation must be booked in advance are for the RHS Malvern Spring Festival and the Royal Three Counties Show.

Ms Charles said: "Lots of accommodation is available. There are small businesses - bed and breakfasts - crying out for business.

"There's a general feeling amongst hoteliers in Malvern that they really do need the business to survive.

"We don't need 50 lodges to be built in our wood."

Sharon Taylor, aged 56, of Meadow Road, Malvern, set up the 'Save Langdale Wood' Facebook page on Monday, October 16.

She first discovered the woodland in January, while walking her seven-year-old Jack Russell 'Poppy'.

She said: "I found this beautiful place, this paradise, with the birds singing and [then] saw this planning application when I was leaving.

"It was on the entrance to the woods. I was devastated. I said I wanted to do a petition and Lou Lowton said 'I'll do that'."

Ms Taylor, a former social worker, said the campaign is about protecting habitats and retaining a woodland for people to walk in.

The mother-of-two added that she had spent some of her own money on promoting the campaign on Facebook.

The group has also started an online crowdfunding page to pay for posters, which have been put up in local shops and the woodland.

Local councillors and leaders from the Three Counties Agricultural Society will be invited to a public discussion about the development in Hanley Swan Village Hall at 7pm on Thursday, December 7.

The society was approached for comment.

To sign the petition against the development go on https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/save-langdale-wood