HEREFORDSHIRE Council has bought Hereford’s Three Elms trading estate – paying just under £2 million.

This morning, the council confirmed the purchase of the 2.786 hectare 21-unit site from the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA).

The buy also unlocks access to an acre of council land with the potential for further commercial development of the estate.

Councillor Harry Bramer, cabinet member contracts and assets said the purchase - for £1.75 million – was “firmly aligned”  with the council’s economic growth agenda.

“We have worked incredibly hard over the last several years to develop Hereford’s core with the development of Old Market, to achieve Enterprise Zone status for Rotherwas Industrial Estate and to construct the City Link Road.”

“The purchase of Three Elms complements the efforts made so far to focus on a prosperous future for the city,” he said.

In October, the Hereford Times revealed that the council was preparing a near £2 million bid to buy the estate, with the price met by prudential borrowing.

 Then, a cabinet report outlined both a business case and an option to purchase the estate at a market value estimated in the region of £1.75 million-£1.85 million.

Defending the bid, the council said that, if it purchased the land after the repayment of prudential borrowing, the council would have a site for “major economic development” with the potential to generate “significant surplus income” to contribute to the council’s overall budget position.

The estate was owned by the HCA that, in turn, took ownership from the now defunct regional development agency Advantage West Midlands (AWM).

Originally, AWM acquired the site to re-locate businesses from the area of what was then Hereford’s Edgar Street Grid/ Hereford Futures project.