Village homes bid refused

A bid to build 10 houses in a Herefordshire village has been refused permission.

The plan by Mr and Mrs Harwood of Bradnor, Kington, was to build the homes on a paddock off Almeley Road, Eardisley, to the south of Kington.

Their outline application was for four three-bedroom and two four-bedroom homes to be sold at market rate, and four more of unspecified size as self-build and custom-build properties, also for open market sale.

But Herefordshire Council’s development manager Kelly Gibbons ruled that as it was outside the village’s agreed boundary, and that no special circumstances applied, the proposal was therefore against county policy.

The plan was a scaled-down resubmission of an earlier 17-home scheme, refused in 2020 partly because the three proposed affordable homes was judged too few for a scheme of its size.

But with only 10 houses on a smaller area, the new proposal no longer had to include an affordable element, Ms Gibbons pointed out.

The council “can only conclude that the site has been artificially subdivided into smaller parcels in order to avoid affordable housing and other financial liabilities”, she said.

“This approach cannot be supported as it fails to utilise the site to its full potential and results in an under-delivery of housing, whilst also depriving the community of significant social benefits.”