A DEVELOPER has submitted a planning application for 321 homes to the south of Ledbury.

If approved, it would be a phased development, taking five years or so to complete in total, with around 50 homes going up each year, during that time-frame.

It could also mean that Ledbury will indeed be expanded considerably to the north and to the south - a concern recently expressed by Ledbury's mayor, Cllr Bob Barnes.

The application is contrary to Herefordshire Council's Core Strategy, the authority's planning blueprint for the next two decades, because the council wants to build to the north of the town, above the viaduct, - not to the south.

Herefordshire Council, in its Core Strategy plan, wants to see 800 new homes in Ledbury, with the majority on the north of the viaduct site.

But Gladman Developments, in a statement from its outline planning application, says that "proposals in the Herefordshire Core Strategy are unsound", and housing requirements for the county are "now out of date, and in need of review".

This is denied by Herefordshire Council, which in a statement maintains that it has got housing requirements right for Ledbury and the county.

The council's communications officer, Michelle Morgan said of its Core Strategy, now being examined by a planning inspector: " A number of representations were made during the final consultation period which suggested either the housing targets are too high or are too low; however, the council will be using its evidence base studies to demonstrate that the Core Strategy housing targets are appropriate, including those for Ledbury."

Ledbury's mayor, Cllr Bob Barnes, who is also chairman of the town's Neighbourhood Plan Team, believes the outgoing planning blueprint, the Unitary Development Plan, could stop a south of the town development.

Gladman want to build on agricultural land that faces the existing Deer Park estate, across the Deer Park Road/Leadon Way, - which is part of the Ledbury bypass.

Cllr Barnes said: "Under the UDP, a development south of the town would be reject by the Herefordshire Council Planning Team."

But the Gladman Developments statement refutes this, because the developer believes the UDP is undermined legally, under the National Planning Policy Framework, - because Herefordshire Council has not identified a five year land bank - land which developers might be encouraged to build on.

Gladman development says: "The Council (Herefordshire) is not currently meeting its five year housing land supply and therefore the housing policies of the UDP are not considered to be up to date.

"As a consequence, the application should be considered in the context of the presumption in favour of sustainable development."

Herefordshire Council has set itself the target of Wednesday, January 14, 2015, to approve or reject the Gladman application.

The application for outline planning permission is for "the erection of up to 321 residential dwellings, including up to 35% affordable housing, structural planting and landscaping, informal public open space, children's play area, surface water attenuation, vehicular access point from Leadon Way and associated ancillary works".

Gladman Developments would still require full planning permission afterwards, to supply further details.

For instance, the current application does not state how many bedrooms each house would have.

But the present Gladman proposal states: "The proposals are based on sound design principles that have taken into account the constraints and opportunties presented by the site.

"The housing mix will reflect the accommodation needs of different people, families, couples and single householders of all ages."