A plan for eight new houses at a Herefordshire farm has been approved.

The scheme put forward by Julian Williams of JDW Homes, Eardisley was to develop a 0.7-hectare former yard at Pool Farm, Woonton, between Lyonshall and Weobley.

All eight houses were to be for market sale, with three having four bedrooms, four with three bedrooms and one with two.

RELATED NEWS:

Three would form a terrace and one would be a bungalow. All would incorporate roof-mounted solar panels and air-source heat pumps.

A smaller, six-home plan for the site had previously been approved in 2016, and this remained a fall-back option if the revised plan were rejected.

Hereford Times: The Pool Farm, Woonton site from the roadThe Pool Farm, Woonton site from the road (Image: Google Street View)

Almeley parish council objected to the scheme, saying it would mean more traffic than under the approved plan, adding: “Access onto the A480 is already considered dangerous.”

It also raised issues of increased run-off, and house designs which were “out of keeping with the area”.

The council’s drainage engineer did not object, while its highways engineer did not submit a response. Nor were there any objections from the public.

OTHER NEWS:

Senior landscape officer Nigel Koch meanwhile objected to the “reduced landscape area”, and the loss of a courtyard layout, compare with the approved scheme.

But planning officer Andrew Banks considered the addition of two three-bedroom homes, and the 10 per cent loss in soft landscaping, to be “acceptable”.

There would be a narrow orchard buffer between the houses and the neighbouring “small” metal works.

And as the total number was still fewer that ten, there was no obligation to provide affordable housing, he noted.