A plan to build a 120-home estate beside a Herefordshire town has been rejected due to concerns over safe road and pedestrian access to it.

Gladman Developments, now part of the Barratt group, had applied for outline permission for the Flaggoner’s Green scheme, between the main A44 and Panniers Lane to the west of Bromyard.

The case was to be decided by Herefordshire Council’s planning committee today (October 25), with planning officer Ollie Jones recommending councillors approve it.

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But transport consultant John Lloyd, commissioned by the town council to look into the transport aspects of the scheme, told the meeting that, contrary to Mr Jones, “the issues around safe pedestrian and cycle integration have not been addressed”.

He said the main A44 “could not accommodate the necessary widening to achieve necessary footway and carriageway widths”, and that safe access “cannot be achieved for the number of movements associated with 120 dwellings”.

Meanwhile it was also “unlikely” that an adequate and safe footway could be installed along the along the minor Panniers Lane to the south, given school and farm traffic, Mr Lloyd said.

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Professor Mark Whitehorn warned that space limitations on the A44 beside the development would lead to larger lorries mounting the kerb, “as they would not fit” within the proposed road width.

For the developer, Finley White said the planned access to the site “has already been formally assessed and passed by an independent road safety audit”.

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The proposal would deliver 48 affordable homes along with “vast areas of green infrastructure”, while funding improvements to local schools, health care and sports and play facilities, he added.

But echoing the safety concerns, local ward and town councillor Claire Davies said this “is the biggest development Bromyard has seen in over ten years”, yet Gladman had repeatedly declined invitations to discuss it with the town.

Committee member Coun Dave Boulter said that following a site visit yesterday (October 25), he concluded that the A44 “needs to be widened by at least five metres” to accommodate the development, while the situation with Panniers Lane “was even worse”, leaving him unable to support the scheme.

Coun Stem Simmons added there was “no provision for cycling”, putting it in conflict with county and national planning policy.

The committee unanimously rejected the application.