A popular Herefordshire country shopping venue plans to extend the self-storage it offers in repurposed shipping containers.

The part-retrospective application by Matthew Pudge, co-owner of the Hop Pocket Shopping Village, near Bishops Frome, seeks approval for 51 containers already at the site, and for a further nine.

The company originally installed eight containers in 2016 for its own storage. “But other businesses and private individuals expressed interest in renting a storage container, so numbers have expanded to 51 currently,” his application says.

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These are mainly aimed small businesses and sole traders locally, enabling them to free up premises space and to store items securely without having to take on extra workspace, while also making home working more of an option, it explains.

Measuring 20 feet in length by 8 feet high, the “discreet” dark green containers are screened by hedging from the main B4214 and require no footings, it says, noting that the site is outside the flood zone around the nearby river Frome.

Created in 1988, the Hop Pocket has expanded to include a gift shop, food hall, restaurant and garden centre, with a further 34 businesses operating from other buildings at the site.

Comments on the application, numbered 224099, can be made until February 8.

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