The head of the housebuilder given the green light to build over 350 homes in a Herefordshire town says the scheme will bring widespread local benefits.

Details of the long-awaited scheme by Persimmon Homes to redevelop the former wartime hospital site at Baron’s Cross west of Leominster were approved this week.

Its regional managing director Lee Hawker said: “This development will deliver significant benefits and investment in the local community including new market homes for local people, and 88 affordable housing properties which will be transferred to a local housing association for social provision.”

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One of the conditions of the permission is that Persimmon will buy so-called phosphate credits worth nearly £530,000 from Herefordshire Council, arising from the council’s construction of a water-purifying integrated wetland at Luston near Leominster.

Mr Hawker said this “substantial investment… ensures our development is nutrient-neutral and enhances local biodiversity”.

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Under the permission, Persimmon will also invest nearly £1.8 million to benefit the wider community, including:

  • Over £700,000 for transport measures, focusing on traffic management and air quality improvements on the A44 and/or Leominster Southern Relief Road;
  • Over £600,000 for education, specifically improvements at Leominster and/or Ivington primary schools;
  • Over £38,000 for sports facilities, including improvements in football and hockey provision at Bridge Street sports park and Earl Mortimer School;
  • Nearly £27,000 for recycling facilities.

Persimmon says construction of the estate will now start “imminently, with the first homes released for sale in spring 2025”.