A controversial plan to build a partly submerged house at a scenic Herefordshire borders spot has been withdrawn.

Mr S Street of Cusop near Hay-on-Wye applied at the start of this year to build the three-bedroom home on land south of the grade II listed 18th-century Dulas House (listed as Dulais), by the Dulas Brook which forms the English-Welsh border.

This followed a previous unsuccessful attempt by Mr Street to build a similar house on the site, withdrawn in March last year after receiving more than 30 objections including from Cusop parish council.

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Now this second proposal has also been withdrawn, following nearly the twice the number of objections, though not this time from the parish council.

Hay resident Patricia Morgan said a walk across the adjacent Dulas footbridge is locally popular as it is “a place of real beauty, with its waterfall, pool, trees and fern-sided riverbanks untouched for well over a hundred years”, as well as being “incredibly biodiverse”.

Hereford Times: The proposed house, which won't now be builtThe proposed house, which won't now be built (Image: CO2 Architects, from application)

“Many” mature trees have already been felled at the site in apparent preparation for the development, which “will prevent the public from using it as they have done historically, for fear of trespass”, she said.

Nearby resident Dr Tim Mullany said the local development plan requires any developments to “protect the character and scenic beauty and biodiversity of the Dulas Brook and its setting”, but the application “seeks to do exactly the opposite”, and questioned its accuracy on numerous points.

Buildings conservation officer Conor Ruttledge also objected to the plan’s “failure to preserve the setting” of Dulas House, which he noted was previously home to the landscape painter Thomas Lindsay, a contemporary of JMW Turner, whose work shows “clear influence [of the house’s] bucolic surroundings”.

Natural England did not think the proposal would “have significant adverse impacts on designated sites”.

But the Brecon Beacons National Park Authority objected to a “lack of supporting information to demonstrate the likely impacts on the wildlife and protected species of the [adjacent] national park”.

Herefordshire Council confirmed withdrawal of the application yesterday (September 14).