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A formal bid for permission to build up to 540 new homes on the south side of Hereford has been published.

Bloor Homes Western’s outline planning application (number 242558) says it has a “target” of 35 per cent of these (189 homes) to be affordable.

Lying on what is mostly farmland between Lower Bullingham Road and Watery Lane, the scheme would be just the first phase of the so-called southern urban expansion to the city set out in the county’s main planning document, the Core Strategy, currently being revised.

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Bloor’s proposal would also feature around five hectares of employment land to the east, a community hub and shop, a country park and other public open space, and would require existing industrial buildings to be demolished.

The main thrust of its initial application is to have approved its plans for how the scheme would fit with the existing road network – which will be chiefly via a new roundabout on the Rotherwas Access Road (B4399) to the east.

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The relatively low-lying area has flooded repeatedly, with Watery Lane among roads most recently closed in the wake of Storm Bert.

Bloor says it will incorporate “sustainable urban drainage and flood mitigation solutions”, while building “on land predominantly outside of the identified floodplain”.

There will also be measures “to allow for infrequent access by both emergency vehicles and local residents/businesses when other local routes, which are known to be affected by flooding at times, are impassable,” it says.

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To ensure the scheme does not increase flood risk downstream towards the Wye, there will be water storage ponds “sized to accommodate the predicted future increase in rainfall”.

An accompanying flood risk assessment claims to “demonstrate that the proposed development is at an acceptable level of flood risk, subject to the recommended flood mitigation strategies being implemented”.

Bloor foresees a second phase of the development further west, to include around 400 more new homes as well as a new primary school and park-and-ride facility next to the A49.