Road safety fears over bid to demolish Top Garage, Bromyard

Top Garage, on the outskirts of Bromyard on the A465 Hereford Road, is no longer a viable business, consultants said as they applied for planning permission from Herefordshire Council.

Applicant Nigel Davis wants permission for five “townhouses” of between three and five bedrooms, and five flats, arranged in three clusters rather than in a single block.

The application came just a year after a plan for twice the number of homes on the site was rejected, but concerns have been raised over lasting damage to Bromyard's job opportunities.

RELATED NEWS:

• Experts to be called in over 'dangerous' buildings in Herefordshire town
• New apartment block planned for middle of Hereford
• Herefordshire farm opens new 24-hour coffee cabin (it sells dog refreshments)

And now a 60-year-old local farm has hit out at the plans and said it had safety concerns around a new hedge being planted.

Robert Stephenson, of Birchyfields, said there was no provision for a walkway for people who currently use Top Garage as a cut-through when walking along Panniers Lane and onto A465 or visa versa.

This would leave walkers having to negotiate the "difficult and dangerous road junction".

He also said the proposed planting of trees/shrubs and erection of buildings on the new development will block the view from the farm entrance of the A465 northwards towards Bromyard.

This would make navigating the drive entrance "even more dangerous than it is currently".

He also hit out at the proposed development having 27 bedrooms yet only 24 car parking spaces. He sai this was "completely inadequate in this situation, even though this maybe of an industry standard".

It could leave residents parking at the farm entrance, something which people at the Hope family centre already do, causing visibility problems.

"When entering the farm drive we are having to make dangerous manoeuvre of crossing the centre white line to be able to turn in with trailers and also having to slow right down on the junction to be able to make the turn," he said in the objection to Herefordshire Council planners.

"The inevitable overspill parking of the development will make matters far worse."

OTHER NEWS:

• Ofsted checks to see if this Herefordshire secondary school is still good
• Hereford site manager jailed after indecent child pictures found on work laptop
• Jailed: man who launched 'unprovoked' attack on Herefordshire train passenger

The initial application said Top Garage had been on the market for around five years, the design and access statement submitted to the council said, but potential buyers failed to see the £900,000 business as viable.

And Cliff Morris, who lives in Panniers Lane, said the asking price was set at a housing premium and therefore there were no acceptable offers.

Herefordshire Council rejected a previous bid to build five houses and 15 flats at the site in December 2021, due to the issue of likely additional pollution entering the river Lugg SAC (special area of conservation), as well as issues of design, transport, housing mix, impact on neighbours, and the lack of a so-called section 106 agreement to provide wider infrastructure benefits.

But a 54-page planning statement accompanying the new bid sets out how it will address these, following talks with Herefordshire Council planners back in spring.