Part Three of our look-ahead to what's expected to be built in Herefordshire in 2023 looks at the infrastructure and commercial developments in the pipeline.

Progress is expected in 2023 on several solar farm projects across Herefordshire, with a scheme covering 46 hectares west of Dormington village having been unanimously approved back in May.

An application for a planned 28-hectare solar farm at Upper Horton Farm north of Bromyard is also expected, along with more details of an extensive scheme of as yet unspecified size at Sinton End Farm, Acton Beauchamp, and a full application for a 3.5-hectare scheme by the A49 at Moreton Business Park.

RELATED NEWS:

Work will continue in the year ahead to improve several schools in the county, including a new main building for Peterchurch primary school, expansion and refurbishment of the specialist Brookfield School in Hereford, a new upwards extension at Hereford’s Holmer Academy, and a rebuild of Westfield School in Leominster.

Ground is also expected to be broken shortly on Leominster’s new medical centre behind the Dale metal works, for completion in 2024, while a new 60-bed care home is due to be built at the former Malvern Spring bottling plant in Colwall.

The Herefordshire Council-owned Model Farm site in Ross-on-Wye is among likely recipients of Government's "levelling up" money, which the council intends to use to transform the site into an enterprise park along the lines of Hereford's enterprise zone at Rotherwas.

The council is under some time pressure to turn the site into business-ready plots, as this work must be completed by March 2025.

Interested in political goings-on in Herefordshire and beyond? Why not join our Herefordshire politics and local democracy Facebook group?

Or you can sign up for our weekly Herefordshire Politics e-newsletter, delivered free to your inbox every Friday.

Also under the county's market town economic development plans, regeneration of Leominster's Corn Square and Old Priory, and landscaping at Ledbury Master’s House and St Katharine’s car park, will also be funded by the Government's levelling up money, which is to be spent in the current and next financial years.

The same funding is also intended to part-fund Hereford's planned £10-million multi-transport hub at the railway station, which will have bus stands, cycle facilities, taxi stands and car parking.

The bulk of spending on this, and on other smaller transport measures in the county also seeking levelling-up funding, is scheduled for the coming financial year. 

A decision on the controversial plan for a McDonald’s fast food restaurant and drive-through on the edge of Ross-on-Wye is expected soon, as is the outcome of the bid by discount retailer Lidl to build a new store on the site of the Three Counties Hotel off Hereford’s Belmont Road.

What are your thoughts?

You can send a letter to the editor to have your say by clicking here.

Letters should not exceed 250 words and local issues take precedence.