Plans for hundreds of new homes on edge of Hereford

An application for outline planning permission for the demolition of existing buildings and structures and the erection of up to 350 dwellings (including affordable housing) has been submitted to Herefordshire Council.

The 25.3 hectare parcel of land is to the east of Hereford, south of Ledbury Road (A438).

The application is also for a farm shop and café, employment workspaces, and land for a potential primary school, along with associated parking, access roads, walking and cycling routes, public open space, landscaping, sustainable urban drainage and other associated works, site clearance and infrastructure.

ALSO READ:

• Why was Lidl plan for Hereford's Three Counties Hotel passed?
• 'Inconsiderate' parents parking outside Herefordshire school
• Alfie Best says he will sell hotel after enforcement threat

All matters reserved except access, which is partially reserved, with detailed approval sought for the primary vehicular site access via the A438.

According to the application, pre-application details were submitted to Herefordshire Council in May 2023, with a pre-application response received in September.

In more detail, the outline application is for 227 open market houses, and 123 affordable, social, or intermediate rent houses on the site, which is currently an agricultural field.

The site is already home to an access road which allows deliveries to and from the anaerobic digester plant at Court Farm in Hampton Bishop. (Image: Google Maps)

Access to the site appears to be proposed along a farm track, which was granted permission in 2017 to give access from the A438 to anaerobic digesters in Hampton Bishop.

The proposed vehicular (dark orange arrow) and other accesses to the site (Image: From application: Herefordshire Council/Savills Urban Design Studio)

A design and access statement submitted with the application said the site is adjacent to the Lugg Meadows Site of Special Scientific Interest, but does not sit within the SSSI itself.

It also said that a flood risk assessment has demonstrated that the proposed development "is not at significant flood risk, subject to the recommended flood mitigation strategies being implemented".

What are your thoughts?

You can send a letter to the editor to have your say by clicking here.

Letters should not exceed 250 words and local issues take precedence.

It does, however, note that "previous incidents of flooding are known to have occurred within this area", but says that the extent of the flooding "mimics that projected within the river Lugg flood model and does not extend into the developable area of the site".

The application said landowner STL Group plans to develop an "innovative new mixed-use neighbourhood which sensitively responds to Hereford's architectural character and heritage, whilst delivering sustainable new homes for local people".

The statement said the landowner is a "local family-run business with a long history of farming on land to the east of Hereford".

More to come.