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Search the Public Notice PortalPlans for four houses in place of barns at a Herefordshire farm have been given the go-ahead by councillors at the second time of asking.
LTF Properties, based at Monksbury Court Barns, Monkhide east of Hereford applied in September 2022 for the scheme, the second of its kind at the farm.
Following several local objections, it was passed to Herefordshire Council’s planning committee to decide on last October, with the planning officer recommending they approve it.
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But councillors then voted instead to defer a decision, saying the scale of the houses was “excessive” and would overlook neighbouring properties, their design “out of keeping” and the layout “restricted and cramped”.
Following further consultation, a rejigged scheme continued to meet with local opposition.
Planning officer Andrew Banks confirmed to the reconvened committee that the design of the houses themselves had not changed. But he regarded the more courtyard-like layout, with garages detached from the houses, as making the scheme more acceptable.
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Local ward member Coun Jonathan Lester said he didn’t see “what detaching the garages achieves” and questioned whether this represented best use of the land, and whether the house designs were any less “out of keeping”.
Committee member Coun Richard Thomas said he remained concerned at the “awful black cladding that seems proliferous over this county now” and would have preferred brick to match the existing farm buildings.
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Mr Banks said the design had been “loosened up”, and given that a scheme with similar cladding had recently been approved at appeal immediately to the north, “I’m not convinced you could refuse this one on that basis”.
Coun Matthew Engel considered it “a very poor development” and questioned whether the properties would sell.
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And Coun Stef Simmons said there was still no reference to energy generation or electric vehicle (EV) charging as part of “these large detached houses”.
Mr Banks clarified that EV points “are now part of building regs”, but a condition on sustainability “could be tightened”.
The revised proposal was approved with 21 conditions. Two councillors voted against and two abstained.
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