BARRATT Homes came under hard questioning at a council meeting in Ledbury last week, when it was revealed that only 380 local households had been asked for views, by letter, over the housebuilder's plans for a new 321 home estate to the south of the town.

Town councillors felt that the consultation should have been much wider for a proposed major extension of Ledbury which would affect the whole town, not just properties close to the new estate.

The new estate would be built on fields over the Ledbury bypass, opposite the Deer Park estate, where most of the consultation letters were received.

Barratt Homes submitted its planning application to Herefordshire Council shortly before Christmas, with a view to gaining planning permission by late April and March and starting building by January next year.

If all goes to plan, the first house should be completed by August 2018.

The developer Gladman won its appeal to build 321 homes on the field south of Leadon Way last April, after Herefordshire Council initially refused its application, and Barratt "acquired the site from Gladman" in December and launched its consultation exercise.

But town councillors are asking why only 380 households, in a town of around 4000 homes, were contacted as part of the consultation.

At a meeting in the Market House, on Thursday, January 5, Cllr Annette Crowe asked Richard Miller and Mark Elliot of Barratt Homes: "Why only 380 address when it affects the whole of Ledbury?"

Cllr Andrew Warmington said that, as a county councillor for Ledbury, said he had been told nothing about the consultation exercise beforehand, and he said of the proposed new housing estate: "Palpably, this is an issue for the whole town."

He asked how it was decided that only 380 households should be used for the consultation.

Mr Miller replied: "The planning officers at Herefordshire Council."