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A planned new 450-home estate at a Herefordshire town will first have to show it won’t harm the area’s protected landscapes.

Vistry Group confirmed its intention earlier this month to develop a 25-hectare area of farmland south of Ledbury, when it submitted a “request for screening opinion” on whether a full environmental impact assessment (EIA) of the proposal would have to be carried out.

Herefordshire Council planners have now confirmed this will have to be completed before building can start.

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“After careful consideration of the characteristics of the development, the location of the site and the potential significance of its environmental impacts, [the council] concludes that the proposed development is likely to have significant environmental effects,” its newly published decision says.

Edged by the A417 Leadon Way and Ledbury Road, the irregular, roughly L-shaped site is earmarked for new housing in Herefordshire’s draft local plan – though this has not progressed since spring.

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The council’s concerns are mainly to do with the impact on the surrounding landscape, which forms part of the EIA process.

It says the “large-scale suburban development” would have “a likely significant effect on land of high landscape and scenic value” – particularly on the “tranquil and rural character” of the Malvern Hills National Landscape (formerly AONB) immediately to the east, and on the historic Underdown landscape within it.

“A full EIA is required to assess the full extent of these impacts”, it said.

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The scheme would also mean the loss of some farmland classed as “best and most versatile”, the council’s decision points out – though this does not in itself “warrant the need for an EIA”.

Vistry’s online public consultation on its proposal closed on November 25.

This said that “at least 35 per cent” of the new homes would be affordable, and that it would also provide a community building, shop and “significant areas of public open space and landscaping”.