Armed forces only in ‘affordable’ new city properties

A new development of 31 homes in Hereford will all now go to local members of the armed forces, it has been announced.

Bloor Homes’ plan for Clubtail Drive near the junction of the A49 and Hedgerow Way north of the city was to be the final part of its vast West Holmer and Holmer House Farm developments totalling over 600 homes, now largely built.

The 31 “maisonettes and apartments” it is now proposing are to be made up of 15 one- and two-bedroom flats in two three-storey blocks, and 16 two-bedroom semi-detached houses, arranged around two courtyards either side of a cul-de-sac.

The firm did not say at the time of its application last December which “key workers” it had in mind for these, only that the scheme would free up existing rental properties in the city.

But now a draft deed between it and Herefordshire Council, a condition of the scheme going ahead, says they are to go to “serving member(s) of the Royal Navy, the Royal Marines, the British Army or the Royal Air Force” who are based within the county.

The properties would be owned and managed by the Defence Infrastructure Organisation and let to forces personnel at a rate capped at 80 per cent of open market rent, the deed says.

But with nearly 30 objections to it locally, the scheme has been passed to county councillors to decide by on July 4.

Neighbour Mark Hookins was among those claiming that Bloor had shown to potential buyers a plan that had the site earmarked not for affordable housing but for a “future park and allotments”.

Holmer and Shelwick Parish Council has also objected to the scheme due to its impact on existing residents, particularly from the “overbearing” three-storey buildings.

A neighbouring 100-parking-space “park and choose” travel scheme alongside new allotments was approved in 2021 on land between the Clubtail Drive site and the A49, though work on this is yet to begin.