The latest 16 homes in a planned expansion of a Herefordshire town has been approved.

Edenstone Homes of Newport applied nearly two years ago for planning permission to build 12 three-bedroom and four two-bedroom houses on half a hectare of farmland northeast of Ross-on-Wye.

Six of the homes were to be classed as affordable, including two First Homes under the Government’s support scheme. Plans to include bungalows among the 16 were later dropped.

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They would be accessed from Starling Road off the A40, via the recently created Dragoon Road.

So-called section 106 benefits to the area funded by the developer as a condition of getting the go-ahead include £47,190, index-linked, to fund local schools, £25,800 to pay for sustainable transport measures, £15,120 on local sports and leisure facilities, £5,520 for local health care, £3,360 for new bins and £1,980 for the town’s library.

The sports and leisure funding will go on a refurbished hockey pitch at the town’s John Kyrle Academy, improvements to Ross RFC’s rugby pitches and clubhouse, new pitches and an improved wicket at the town’s sports centre, court improvements at its tennis centre and funding for its rowing club.

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There were no objections from the town council, from specialist consultees or from the public.

Planning officer Heather Carlisle said the proposed design and layout were acceptable and appropriate to the area.

Outline planning permission to build 175 houses on the wider site was initially granted in 2021, since when many of these have been or are being built. This latest permission refers to a plot known as 4D within it.

The development area is to be extended eastwards, making room for a further thousand homes, under the revised local plan for the county up to 2041 on which public consultation has just closed.