THE Government’s huge increase in future housebuilding targets means drastic changes are needed across Herefordshire, which includes villages near Monmouth like Welsh Newton, Galway, Llangrove, Llangarron and Whitchurch.

Some 27,260 new homes are required to be built over a 20-year period, compared with the 16,100 previously provided for in the present Local Plan.

The Government’s far reaching national planning reforms, published in December 2024, forced a halt to work on the current Herefordshire Local Plan, forcing an extensive review to be undertaken, along with an assessment of how best to progress.

Despite Herefordshire Council providing extensive feedback on the consultation, none of its views were taken into consideration in the final documentation.

The local authority pointed out that past records of housebuilding in the county are nowhere near that proposed and stated that this level of housing will also need to be accompanied with appropriate levels of employment, community facilities and infrastructure to accommodate the increase in population.

As part of the consultation Ross-on-Wye Town Council stated: “The target of 1,800 dwellings proposed for Ross is not appropriate. The proportion of houses Ross is expected to deliver is a significant increase in terms of the number of homes and overall population.

“Hereford and the other market towns are expected to increase their populations by a significantly smaller percentage.

“Ledbury, Leominster and Hereford have existing rail connections which can contribute significantly to the sustainability of any future development within those areas. Ross has easy access to the M50, so development in the town will be focused on trip generation by car.”

The town council has also expressed concerns that additional developments planned in the area will have an impact on services within Ross.

Both Weston-under-Penyard and Lea are expected to expand significantly with no provision for healthcare facilities or secondary education places.

Herefordshire Council has concluded that the huge upswing in housing numbers forced upon it, means that the Local Plan cannot progress in its current form.

The only feasible option is to begin production of a new-style local plan under the government’s revised plan-making system, as set out in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023.

This will allow for detailed additional site assessments to be carried out, along with the production of robust evidence to underpin new policies, to guide the delivery of the increased growth over the next 20 years.

Councillor Elissa Swinglehurst, cabinet member environment, said: “The new government housing targets for Herefordshire are close to double the original planned delivery.

“Herefordshire has never seen house building on this scale and we do not have the infrastructure in place to accommodate it. Nevertheless, the housing numbers are not something we can change so we have to do our best to come up with the right plan for how and where to deliver 27,260 houses along with the infrastructure and employment sites that entails.

"This requires a complete restart of the local plan so we will have to go back through all of the consultation process. I hope that we can re-engage with those individuals and groups who originally responded.”