Neighbours lobby to block new homes near Belmont Abbey (From Ledbury Reporter)

Neighbours lobby to block new homes near Belmont Abbey

11:00am Friday 2nd November 2012 in News By Lauren Rogers

WORRIED Hereford residents have spoken out against plans for 85 new homes near Belmont Abbey.

At a meeting at the abbey last weekend, a number of people voiced fears that a development just south of the city would set a precedent for more homes in the future, exacerbating existing traffic problems and disrupting the solitude of grade II-listed Belmont Abbey.

Opponents say they are against the scheme because:

• Previous council decisions indicate the land is not suitable for development due to its natural beauty and status as historic parkland.
• There is no natural boundary to prevent developers extending further west in the future, right down to the Belmont Golf Club.
• Traffic problems at the junction of Ruckhall Lane and the A465 are already “quite intolerable” and putting in a pedestrian crossing and a new footpath are a “derisory concession”.
• The development would have adverse affect on Belmont Abbey.
• The water supply and sewerage provision is “inadequate” to cope with more homes.

Developers Lioncourt Homes and Pegasus, who submitted a planning application in September, say the proposed Home Farm development would cover a six hectare site with Ruckhall Lane to the south, Belmont Abbey to the south west and Belmont Golf Course further out to the west.

 

More than 70 people, including Herefordshire Council ward Councillors Phil Edwards and Adrian Bridges, attended the meeting at Belmont Abbey to discuss the plans.