Leominster plan for 118-home estate refused again

An indicative drawing of what the 118-home estate would have looked like has been released

A plan to build a 118-home estate on the edge of a town has been refused permission for a second time.

Muller Property Group had revised its bid for land south of Barons Cross Road, Leominster, after Herefordshire planners rejected its plan in 2022.

After considering the new application the county council ruled the firm had not dealt properly with the likely impact of the estate on local roads.

Planners said there were "significant concerns" over air quality.

The council's ecology officer stated that as before, it was "unable to support the site design, landscaping proposals, impacts on protected species and levels of biodiversity loss resulting from the proposal".

Pollution hotspot

A highways engineer also said the estate would not be in a sustainable location with regards to travel, and the application had not dealt properly with its likely impact on local roads, or demonstrated safe access to it.

On air quality, the authority's environmental health service manager said it still had "significant concerns regarding the additional vehicle movements and increased emissions in the AQMA" - the air quality management area at Bargates Junction, identified as an air pollution hotspot in the county.

Leominster town council also maintained its objection, given that access to the site would still be via "a narrow road at the end of a series of cul-de-sacs" that would have required demolition of a bungalow.

Town councillors also said the proposed relief road from the west to the south of the town "needs to be in place before the houses" and claimed the developer's revised traffic movement forecast was "not credible".

More than 150 objections were also submitted by members of the public.

Planning officer Chloe Smart added the "piecemeal" proposed development of the site "could prejudice" the proposed strategic urban extension to the town, which "needs to be masterplanned".