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Search the Public Notice PortalA county councillor and senior church figure have clashed over controversial plans for two large new houses in a Herefordshire village.
Coun Matthew Engel of Herefordshire Council’s planning committee said that with five houses already on sale each at over a million pounds, Cradley near the Worcestershire border was becoming “more Beverly Hills than Malvern Hills”.
He said approving the application by the Diocese of Hereford to enable the self-built houses, one of five bedrooms, on a former commercial yard off Rectory Lane in the village would mean “there will soon be a sixth”.
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Diocese chief executive Sam Pratley had earlier told the committee that receipts from developments on its land “fund our charitable purposes in every parish in Herefordshire”.
The “sensitive, high-quality proposal” for the village site had been guided by early and ongoing input from council officers, and “should not be decided based on a popularity referendum”, he said, referring to the nearly 50 public objections to it.
He added: “If permission was refused, a planning appeal would be inevitable.
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“This is not a threat. It is just a fact that, as a charitable organisation having spent considerable resources on these proposals and secured officer support, it would be irresponsible not to seek the Secretary of State’s review.”
Coun Engel responded that he took “strong objection” to “what seemed like a threat”.
“I know the church is hard up, but if they want to sell off land in a village, they should surely build houses that the village needs,” he said.
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“Your decisions may not depend on a popularity referendum, but ours does.”
He was warned by committee chair Terry James: “You’ve put the committee in a dangerous position because your comments were based on your prejudice against the applicant, not on the planning policies and issues.”
“I have no prejudice against the applicant – I’ve never met him before,” Coun Engel replied.
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“I did find what he said was out of order.”
Resident Christopher Lowder earlier claimed that if the Diocese “had an ounce of Christian charity, it would junk the application and negotiate with the group that wishes to transform the area into allotments”, and added the council’s tree expert had failed to spot a rare black poplar that would be lost to the development.
The church’s application was granted in line with the planning officer’s recommendation.
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