LAND which could be at risk of collapsing has been sold by Herefordshire Council for £10,000, documents reveal.

The council has given notice that it is selling the land between Mordiford and Fownhope, near the Holme Lacy Bridge into Hereford, to a local homeowner.

The council said it owns the small area of land, around 0.1 acre, after taking it over as part of a larger area for highway improvement works.

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Those works were carried out, and the small piece was left over and the highways department now has no use for it.

The east side of the land is made up of a steep, almost vertical, bank covered in scrub trees and bushes, council documents said.

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And because there is no retaining wall or other structures in place to prevent a landslip occurring to the bank, which supports the garden of the adjacent home, Even Pitts, there are fears it could collapse.

By selling the land, the council's strategic assets delivery director Sarah Jowett said it "removes the risk of the council being held liable should the adjoining owner’s land collapse as a result of the lack of a retaining wall".

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She said the owner of Even Pitts wanted to buy the land to enable him to carry out any necessary works to support his adjoining land.

The land was independently valued at £10,000 and that figure was agreed as the sale price, with the land restricted to private garden and parking use only.

Any objections to the sale of the land can be made via email to Helen Beale, the council's senior estate manager, no later than November 24.