PLANS to build 46 new homes in a Herefordshire village will not go ahead after a planning inspector dismissed an appeal.

Dozens of objections were registered after Land Allocations Ltd submitted new outline plans to develop 7.33 acres of field on land north of Southbank in Withington in January 2020.

Previous plans to build up to 52 houses on the field were rejected because the site lies outside the village boundary and would have poor transport connections.

But permission was again refused by Herefordshire Council, after a report again found it was outside the settlement boundary and had poor access.

The developers appealed the decision, taking it to the Planning Inspectorate.

In a decision published on May 11, planning inspector JP Sargent dismissed the appeal.

"The proposed housing lies immediately adjacent to but outside of the settlement boundary," the inspector's report said.

"What is before me does not accord with any of the permitted circumstances for housing given in core strategy policy RA3. Therefore, in principle housing is unacceptable here and contrary to neighbourhood plan policy."

The inspector also found the new development would impact on the surrounding landscape, making the village more visible in a rural area.

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The inspector also had concerns about the impact of the development on the C1130, which runs along the boundary and would provide vehicular access to the site, with the access requiring the removal of an extensive length of planting and embankment.

"The scale and nature of these changes would significantly undermine and harm the rural character and appearance of this section of the lane, by removing the apparently natural wooded embankment and replacing it with a heavily engineered feature," the inspector wrote.

The inspector also raised concerns about barriers to walking and cycling to village amenities, such as a lack of pavements and lighting, and concluded this would result in an over-reliance on cars.

And further concerns were raised about the impact of the development on the Wye Special Area of Conservation, with the potential to result in an increase of foul sewage in the river in the event of sewer overflows.