Affordable bungalows near Ross-on-Wye approved

A 17-home “bungalow-only” scheme on the edge of a Herefordshire town, on which locals will get first dibs, can now go ahead.

The proposal, by Edenstone Homes of south Wales, forms part of the much larger St Mary’s Garden Village development of up to 465 houses to the east of Ross-on-Wye, some of which are already occupied and others currently under construction.

Outline permission for the latest 17 houses, ten of which are to be affordable and seven for open-market sale, was granted back in December 2019, with the details only now approved.

The affordable homes “are to be allocated to those with a local connection to Ross-on-Wye in the first instance”, the planning officer’s report recommending approval said. All are to be built to wheelchair-accessible standard.

“We have worked closely with the developer to negotiate the precise dwellings and these accessible homes will be for local applicants,” the council’s housing officer said in her submission.

There would be five different designs, which Edenstone describes as “Arts-and-Crafts inspired”.

The planning officer said these would “create visual interest, reduce massing and rigid reproduction over the development”.