The Herefordshire villages earmarked for new housing

Lists have been published of the smaller settlements in Herefordshire likely to be the focus for new rural housing over the coming two decades.

The “core strategy”, the cornerstone of planning in the county, is currently being revised.

A public consultation earlier this year found a general desire to concentrate new housing in Hereford and the five market towns. But a further 2,500 homes are due to be built in rural areas between now and 2041.

For these areas, “no clear preferred option emerged” from the consultation, according to a recent Herefordshire Council document explaining the revision process.

But there was “a clear preference for a less dispersed settlement pattern” – that is, for it to be concentrated in fewer settlements than at present.

With public support for avoiding development outside conservation areas and areas of outstanding natural beauty (AONBs) also needing to be factored in, “the preferred strategy for the rural areas will be a hybrid of options”, it says.

But given the document says “there will also be a reduced number of settlements from those current listed within the core strategy,” this appears to already have been determined to a degree.

Anything outside of these settlements would be classified as “open countryside” – “where only limited housing growth would be permitted”, the council explains.

Based on analysis of more than 300 villages and hamlets in the county, the council has proposed two different lists of those it favours to get an average of 50 new houses each over the next 20 years.

Option 1a ranks the county’s 51 villages best suited to new housing based on a basket of factors including local services and facilities, transport access and environmental constraints.

The 51 are:

Almeley
Colwall
Kimbolton
Marden
Stretton Sugwas

Bartestree
Cradley
Kingsland
Mordiford
Tarrington

Bishop’s Frome
Credenhill
Kingstone
Moreton on Lugg
Wellington

Bodenham
Cusop
Lea
Much Birch
Weobley

Bosbury
Dilwyn
Leintwardine
Orleton
Weston under Penyard

Bredenbury
Eardisley
Llangrove
Pembridge
Whitchurch

Bridstow
Ewyas Harold
Longtown
Peterchurch
Wigmore

Brimfield
Fownhope
Lugwardine
Pontrilas
Withington

Burghill
Fromes Hill
Lyonshall
Shobdon
Wormbridge

Canon Pyon
Goodrich
Madley
Staunton on Wye
Yarpole

Clehonger

Option 1b meanwhile lists 50 villages selected on similar criteria, but intended to give a more even spread across the county’s seven “housing market areas” (HMAs).

The 50 are:

Bromyard HMA
Golden Valley HMA
Hereford HMA
Kington HMA

Bodenham
Cusop
Bartestree
Almeley

Bredenbury
Ewyas Harold
Credenhill
Eardisley

Brockhampton
Longtown
Fownhope
Lyonshall

Burley Gate
Michaelchurch Escley
Madley
Pembridge

Edwyn Ralph
Peterchurch
Marden
Shobdon

Hope under Dinmore
Moreton on Lugg
Staunton on Wye
Stoke Prior

Wellington
Titley

Ledbury HMA
Leominster HMA
Ross on Wye HMA

Ashperton
Brimfield
Goodrich

Bishops Frome
Kimbolton
Kingstone

Bosbury
Kingsland
Little Dewchurch

Colwall
Leintwardine
Llangrove

Cradley
Orleton
Much Birch

Fromes Hill
Weobley
Peterstow

Wigmore
Pontrilas

St Weonards

Weston under Penyard

Whitchurch

Wormbridge

But the whole approach was recently criticised by Eardisland parish councillor Merry Albright, who also chairs the Herefordshire Construction Industry Lobby Group.

She said as Eardisland appears on neither list, “it writes us off for the next generation, when we have so much to offer”.

Also, “It puts a lot of pressure on those (villages on the list) which have already provided a significant amount of housing,” she said.