Estate plans move a step closer

The land was earmarked on the draft local plan - a document intended to guide future development

Plans to build a 450-home estate next to Ledbury have moved a step forward.

A 25-hectare area of farmland south of the town, edged by the A417 Leadon Way and Ledbury Road, was earmarked as a "strategic" site for new housing in Herefordshire's draft local plan.

More than 100 residents largely opposing the plan and its likely impact on existing services and infrastructure made their views known at a town meeting.

Housebuilder Vistry Group has now applied for an "environmental impact assessment screening" for the site - often a preparatory stage to a large planning application.

The application seeks to establish whether it will have to be accompanied by a full study on its likely impact on the immediate environment.

The proposals in the draft local plan were strongly opposed by the town council, which said was "extremely disappointed and angry" at the choice of the site, "seemingly in complete disregard of existing, approved policies".

The new Labour government has since said it plans to require local authorities to approve more building plans in order to meet its target of 1.5 million new homes over the current parliament.

This would ramp up Herefordshire's new homes requirement to 27,500 over the next 20 years, with Ledbury, a popular spot for developers, at the forefront.

No details of Vistry's application have yet been published apart from the outline of the site, which matches that earlier proposed by county planners.

Local ward councillor Stef Simmons, who sits on the county planning committee, said Vistry’s agents had earlier proposed the Ledbury site, but that everything was having "to be relooked at" in the light of changes to national planning policy.

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