INFORMATION FOR BODENHAM RESIDENTS – Please respond
The current draft Herefordshire Local Plan 2021-2041 identifies our village as a rural hub and designates 2.9 hectares of land south of Chapel Lane for the construction of up to 50 new houses. This is Phase 1 and requires a priority response from the Parish Council and all residents (objection or approval) by 20 May.
Herefordshire Council’s presumption as conceived in the Draft Local Plan that large numbers of houses can be imposed on rural settlements is flawed.
There are many reasons why the proposed development on land south of Chapel Lane is in the wrong place, identified as long ago as 2015, and the planners at Herefordshire Council should be fully aware of this.
Bodenham Parish Council identifies issues which have got still worse – exacerbated by climate change – since a planning application for 49 dwellings on land south of Chapel Lane came before Herefordshire Council Planning Committee in October 2015 and was refused:
- Flooding
- Sewage waste disposal
- State of roads
- Access and speeding
Bodenham Parish Council will make its submission to the consultation before the deadline of 20 May 2024 conveying the problematic nature of the proposed site on land south of Chapel Lane and, when called upon to do so, will submit the Parish Council’s views in respect of other potential sites when these have been assessed.
This Phase 1 proposal of 50 houses may be achieved by developing other potential sites which have been submitted by landowners and which may be preferable without the need for development of the land south of Chapel Lane. All alternative sites in Bodenham are being considered by Herefordshire Council but have not yet been assessed fully.
Also, in Phase 2, for consideration at a date after the end of May, another 30 houses are required by the Local Plan, taking the total requirement to 80 for our village. These additional houses are being considered for development at one or more of these new locations in the village put forward by local landowners. Details will follow in due course.
It is crucially important that you should register your views within the consultation period which ends on 20 May 2024. Every opinion counts. If this planned development is of interest to you as a resident, you need to respond by 20 May 2024.
The Parish Council urges you to send your views to Herefordshire Council by 20 May via the Commonplace consultation platform at https://hlp.commonplace.is/, or of course compose your own letter and send it to Herefordshire Council by email:
ldf@herefordshire.gov.uk
Prepared by Bodenham Parish Council – May 2024