New Mortimer Road industrial units will address shortage in Hereford

It was the second attempt by Birmingham-based Avenbury Estates to redevelop the currently overgrown half-hectare site east of Mortimer Road off the main A49 through the city.

Their scaled-back plan consisted of three buildings on the eastern and southern sides of the site away from the houses on Mortimer Road.

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The plans are “without a specific end user in mind”, but would be limited by planning law to storage and distribution, or to industrial processes which would not impact a residential area, planning officer Adam Lewis said in his report.

The proposal still drew nine objections from residents concerned about the impact on their homes – ranging from the visual impact to the extra traffic, noise and light pollution, flooding risk and loss of wildlife habitat.

Mortimer Road residents were unhappy about the previous proposal, and some maintained their objections (Image: Rob Davies)

However there were no objections this time from council officers or from outside bodies.

The council’s economic development team said the units would “be well suited to meet the needs of small, start-up and move-on businesses”, and that the city currently has no other readily available sites that could better meet the shortage of these.

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National Highways, which manages the A49, said it was satisfied that the smaller size of the development, and hence fewer trips, would mean the impact on junction traffic at the end of Mortimer Road “shall not be severe”.

The council’s own highways officer considered that the “overprovision” of 52 parking spaces at the site “would reduce any risk of visitors having to park on the road”.

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Its conservation manager also welcomed revised plan’s “substantial” buffer strip along the street for large trees and landscaping, which would “reduce the overbearing nature of the industrial buildings”.

Welsh Water meanwhile said it had no objection to the plan to divert surface water into the adjacent Ayles Brook by controlled discharge from an attenuation tank.

Among 29 conditions with the planning permission is a requirement to confine use of the site to between 7am and 7pm weekdays, 8am and 1pm on Saturdays, and not at all on Sundays and holidays.