Plan's unveiled for 'urban village' in city

Parts of Merton Meadow are set to be converted into up to 400 new homes

Plans to transform an area of Hereford into an "urban village" have been unveiled.

The regeneration project would see parts of Merton Meadow, which is currently a mix of car parks and scrub land, turned into up to 400 new homes.

However, Herefordshire Council said flooding issues in the area must be alleviated using government funding before the residential development could be built.

Steve Holland, the council's housing director, said water flowing into the area would be diverted into attenuation ponds.

"Water coming into Merton Meadow from the north via waterways and culverts will go into a series of new attenuation ponds designed to cope with a one-in-a-hundred-years flooding event," he said.

A planning application for the attenuation ponds, which are designed to store rain water and prevent flooding, is due by the end of April.

If approved, work is expected to begin in September, following the appointment of a main contractor for the works earlier this year.

The first of the ponds will be created in a car park north of the Yazor Brook near the A49 Edgar Street, with a smaller second pond on undeveloped land further along the brook.

Plans show the third pond will take up part of the former Essex Arms site, across the City Link Road.

The council will then set about gathering views of residents and businesses on what should be built on the remaining areas of the site.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.