  It is shown that hyperspherical harmonics can be represented in a form
typical of traditional microscopic cluster models. This allows those
hyperharmonics that are responsible for long-range behaviour of valence
nucleons in loosely-bound nuclei to be selected. The hyperspherical cluster
model based on such hyperharmonics is tested for $^5$He using a simplified
description of the $^4$He core and two versions of the Volkov potential which
give $^5$He as either bound or unbound. The study has confirmed that it is
possible to get a converged solution for binding energy, r.m.s. radius, overlap
integral and asymptotic normalization coefficient with small number of basis
functions for bound $^5$He. The values obtained of these quantities are very
close to those calculated in a microscopic cluster model.
