THE new Herefordshire Council is just days old and already faces a major legal challenge which could force a complete shift in policy.

Protestors have taken the fight against the Bullinghope homes - a development outlined as the way ahead for a major countywide housing and road building programme revealed by the Hereford Times last week - to the High Court.

The action, lodged with the court by the Dinedor Hill Action Association (DHAA) on Monday, claims the council "manipulated the Unitary Development Plan process" to allocate land at Bullinghope for housing - with the sole purpose of using money from the developer to pay for the Rotherwas access road.

Kevin O'Keefe, legal practice manager for the council, said his team had just received the papers outlining the action and were giving them careful consideration.

DHAA chairman David Miller said the action was launched after "detailed legal advice" on a number of issues relating to the council's case for needing the new homes, and, if so, whether or not Bullinghope was the best place for them when other sites were rejected.

Other issues raised in the action are: Impartial consideration of the future planning application when work on the access road has started without all the funding in place.

The strength of concern in the area, shown by the election of a Green councillor who wanted a mandate to fight the homes.

Fears of "several thousand homes" spreading out from Hereford's southern boundaries if the Bullinghope development sets a precedent.

Unsatisfactory answers from the council to specific objections raised by individuals and organisations, including the Government Office for the West Midlands.

"We believe proper democratic processes have been overriden by the council and that a legal challenge to the UDP is the only avenue remaining to ensure proper consideration of this allocation of housing," said Mr Miller.

A number of future housing sites were assessed by the draft UDP.

The Bullinghope homes were pitched by the council as a way to make the millions needed to complete the Rotherwas access road through developer contributions when Whitehall had turned down funding for the project as poor value for money.

The resulting row split the council and started strong environmental protests over the way in which the council made its decision.

At a public inquiry, a government planning inspector said it would be "premature" to put 300 homes at Bullinghope and called the proposed development a "material and unjustified incursion" into open countryside.

The council went against the inspector's recommendation to push ahead with the plan at a vote, saying the future for Rotherwas and the county's economic prospects as a whole were at stake.