The long-running saga of a half-built house (or houses) at a prominent Herefordshire spot has taken another, possibly final turn.

Builder Martin Rohde’s plan to build what was initially approved as a single three-bedroom house at Dukes Walk by Leominster’s Etnam Street car park was later changed to become two semi-detached houses.

But permission for the change was not given, even after a planning appeal.

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Herefordshire Council then issued an enforcement notice in late 2019 telling Mr Rohde to return the area to grass within six months – which he also appealed against, also unsuccessfully.

Then earlier this year he applied for permission to knock down some of the building work and rebuild it closer to the original approved single-home plan, which he simultaneously sought to establish had been lawfully begun at the time and could therefore continue.

Both have now been refused, while the building remains half-finished.

Among five public objections lodged to the rebuild plan, nearby resident Hilary Myers-Currie said she was “dismayed” that the enforcement order to clear the building “has still not been complied with, a full three years past the deadline”.

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“It remains an eyesore in the town centre and a dangerous site, having not been made properly secure by the owner,” she added.

Natural England objected to the lack of evidence that the plan would not add to water pollution in the Lugg catchment, an abiding obstacle to on new development in the area.

Planning officer Adam Lewis gave this among his reasons for refusing the application.

It would also harm the look of the town’s conservation area and the setting of historic buildings within it, he ruled. Nor had the application shown that the scheme would not increase the risk of flooding locally.

Theoretically, Mr Rohde could still appeal against either of the two latest setbacks.

Meanwhile a Herefordshire Council spokesperson confirmed that the enforcement “has not been complied with in the timescales required, and the council is currently actively pursuing this”.