An “out-of-place eyesore” home in a prominent Hereford spot could be replaced by two larger townhouses.
A planning application has been submitted to knock down the “1960s-70s” bungalow at the corner of Priory Place and Grandstand Road, by Widemarsh Common, and replace it with two larger homes
The “two-and-a half-storey” semi-detached houses, with pitched roofs and each with four bedrooms, would face east, with four shared parking spaces to the south.
Approval was previously given in January last year to replace the bungalow with one five-bedroom and two three-bedroom detached houses, the larger being designed for the previous owners to live in.
However, the site has now been sold to a Mrs I Anderson of Cowbridge, south Wales, who “does not intend to live on-site, and the value of the (larger) building on the open market will not be proportionate to the construction costs”, the application explained.
Instead, “a more viable proposal would be to redevelop the site with a pair of semi-detached dwellings using the design of the approved detached dwellings”, it proposed.
Likewise the cost of refurbishing the bungalow and converting its loft space to make it more energy-efficient, under an earlier planning permission, would not be viable, it added.
On the other hand, the pair of semis would “form a coherent re-development” of the site which would enhance the Widemarsh Common conservation area.
“The existing out-of-place bungalow will be demolished and we believe this scheme will enhance the conservation area by forming a bookend to the row of terraces at Priory Place,” the agent’s covering letter with the application said.
“This will then leave a coherent modern redevelopment instead of the eyesore that currently exists.”
Both would be heated by mains gas boilers.
The recent ending of the Government’s Feed-in Tariff scheme means solar panels “are not as attractive from a viability perspective as they once were and would only be further investigated if absolutely necessary”, the application said.
Comments on the planning application, reference number 221345, can be made until June 11.
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