Grafton Lane: 201 Bellway Homes Held Back Three More Months

National Highways has told Herefordshire Council not to approve Bellway’s detailed plans for 201 homes off Grafton Lane, on the southern edge of Hereford, for a further three months.

It is the third time the roads body has asked the council to wait. Its response of 9 November says it has “not received any new information” since its last holding recommendation in August, which was about to expire. It wants the time “to allow the applicant time to submit additional information”.

The application, P261015/RM, was due to be decided by 6 November. The council’s file still shows it as undecided.

Overview

• What: 201 homes on about 10 hectares of farmland between the A49 Ross Road and the railway, on both sides of Grafton Lane. Bellway is the applicant.
• Where it stands: outline permission was granted under reference 193042. This application settles the layout, the house designs and the landscaping.
• The hold: National Highways says no approval for three months from 9 November, so until about 9 February 2027, unless Bellway answers its points first.
• Objections: Hereford City Council objects. The council’s own highways officer wants changes before giving a “no objections” response.

What National Highways wants answered

The A49 is a trunk road, so National Highways is consulted on the new entrance to the estate. Its November response repeats the concerns it raised in August. They are:

• Drainage. The drawings show a foul sewer rising main running north along the A49 and crossing the road before the railway bridge, where it stops. The key says the exact manhole location “has not been identified”. The watercourse that will take surface water is not shown.
• A brick wall by the junction. A 1.8 metre wall north of the new entrance appears “quite close to the highway edge” and could be a hazard to a vehicle that leaves the road. National Highways wants to see how it meets road safety design standards.
• Planting. The proposed hedge mix includes dog rose, one of the species its environmental team says should be kept away from main roads.
• An oak tree. The oak on the corner of the A49 and Grafton Lane is to be kept, and its root protection area may affect the junction works.

If the council wanted to decide the application against this recommendation, it would first have to consult the Secretary of State for Transport.

The new junction and Grafton Lane

Bellway’s planning statement says the outline permission agreed a new four-arm junction with traffic lights on the A49. It would take in the existing junction with Romany Way, about 65 metres south of today’s Grafton Lane junction.

Grafton Lane would then be closed to vehicles west of Newlands, about 280 metres from the A49. A shared path for people walking and cycling would link the estate to the rest of the lane, which stays open to traffic.

Callow and Haywood Group Parish Council asked on 14 October for that closure to be dropped. It said closing the section “would be disastrous”. It described Grafton Lane as a single-track road already busy with traffic for its businesses, the community farm and large farm vehicles, and used daily by cyclists on the national cycle route.

What the homes would be

Of the 201 homes, 70 would be affordable. Half of those would be for social rent and half sold at a discount on the open market, the planning statement says. The other 131 would be sold on the open market, in a mix of one to four bedrooms with some bungalows.

The council’s housing officer supports the scheme. The officer says the affordable homes are spread through the site, and would go first to people with a local connection to the parish of Grafton.

Who else has objected

Hereford City Council’s planning committee objected on 8 October. Its reasons include:

• the site is “best and most versatile” farmland, and the plans do not show poorer land could be used instead
• there is no environmental impact assessment, which it says the scheme now needs
• the house designs are “too generic” and the cul-de-sac layout does not make a well-designed place
• the layout is built around the car, and the footways and cycleway are broken by side roads
• at 19.9 homes a hectare, the density is far below the 35 it says national policy now expects

The council’s own highways officer responded on 8 October. The officer said sightlines at one bend were 17 metres where 23 were needed, and that narrowed junctions inside the estate would not be supported. They also asked for the shared path to reach the signal crossing at Romany Way. “Before a response of no objections can be provided the above details will need to be considered and resolved,” the officer wrote.

The council’s file holds 92 documents filed as representations, most of them objections from residents.

What it means for you

The public comment period closed on 6 November, but the council’s application page still carries its “Make a comment” link while the application is undecided. Any amended plans Bellway sends in to answer National Highways will appear there first.

If you use Grafton Lane to reach the A49, the closure west of Newlands was first proposed at the outline stage, when the site’s access was approved. Bellway’s statement says it is still part of the plan.

Nothing can be built until the council approves these details. We will report the decision, and any committee date, when the council publishes it.