Herefordshire can show only 2.81 years of housing land against a five-year rule, down from 3.11. What it changes for planning, and the sites that dropped out.
Herefordshire Council can now show only 2.81 years of land ready for housing. National planning policy expects five. A year ago the figure was 3.11 years.
The council published the new position on Friday in its Five Year Housing Land Supply statement, dated September 2026 and measured at 1 April. The same statement records 677 net new homes completed in 2025/26, up from 557 the year before.
The shortfall matters because it changes how planning applications are judged. Developers proposing homes on land the council has not chosen for housing can now point to it.
The figures
The statement works out the five-year figure like this:
- Homes needed each year: 1,372. This is the government’s standard method, based on the county’s 91,516 homes and a house price to earnings ratio of 9.60.
- Homes needed over five years, plus a 5% buffer: 7,203, or 1,440 a year.
- Homes the council judges deliverable in that time: 4,046.
- 4,046 divided by 1,440 gives 2.81 years.
The council’s announcement puts the annual figure at 1,362. The statement itself calculates 1,372, and that is the number its sums use.
Why it fell
The big drop came from Whitehall. The council’s announcement says a revised National Planning Policy Framework in December 2024 lifted Herefordshire’s target from 773 homes a year to 1,362, more than 75 per cent higher. Before that change the county had 5.73 years of supply, it says.
This year’s fall is mostly about sites dropping out. The annual requirement barely moved: 1,433 a year in last October’s statement, 1,440 now. The count of deliverable homes fell from 4,452 to 4,046, a drop of 406.
The council’s announcement names one cause directly: about 250 homes at Hardwick Bank in Bromyard. The statement says the council resolved to grant outline permission there in January 2024. The section 106 agreement and phosphate mitigation were never secured, so the application was refused on 3 July 2026. Bromyard is about 14 miles north-east of Hereford.
The statement also knocks 622 homes off the total for sites it is less sure about:
- 410 from sites with a resolution to grant permission but no permission yet
- 204 from sites with outline permission only
- 8 from sites held up by phosphates in the River Lugg catchment
The big Hereford sites
The city’s two planned urban extensions add little in the next five years, on the council’s own forecast.
| Site | What the statement says | Homes counted to 2031 |
|---|---|---|
| Lower Bullingham, south Hereford | A 540-home first phase by Bloor Homes awaits a section 106 agreement. Building expected from 2027/28. | 92 |
| Three Elms, west Hereford | A smaller 350-home outline scheme won a resolution to grant in November 2025. Some homes “towards the latter end” of the period. | Not given separately |
| City centre urban village | 569 of a planned 800 homes built since 2011. 139 more have permission. | 40 a year in years 4 and 5 |
| Southern Leominster | Outline plans for 650 and 1,000 homes, lodged in September 2025, are undetermined. | 0 |
Both Hereford extensions were shrunk after the council stopped work on the bypass and southern link road in 2021. The statement says Lower Bullingham’s developer must show the site can work without overloading the road network.
What it means for you
Applications on unallocated land get a stronger hand. The statement explains how the new national rules, published in August 2026, treat a shortfall:
- Inside settlements, Policy S4 supports development unless the harm would “substantially outweigh the benefits”.
- Outside settlements, Policy S5 lists when development can be acceptable in principle. Criterion (j) covers housing that “would contribute towards addressing a shortfall in the Council’s housing land supply”.
- The supply position is “a significant material consideration” in decisions.
That does not mean every scheme gets approved. The statement says biodiversity, landscape, heritage, flood risk and environmental protection still count. But if you are objecting to homes on a field near you, expect the applicant to cite the 2.81 figure. Objections that rest on specific harm, such as drainage, flooding or road safety, carry more weight than objections to the principle.
One live example is the outline plan for 250 homes at Credenhill, where the council’s drainage engineers have objected. Its target decision date is 22 October. You can follow any application near you with our Hereford planning news page.
The council is not being penalised for slow building. Its Housing Delivery Test result, published on 17 August 2026, is 96 per cent. That clears the 95 per cent line, so no action plan is needed and the buffer stays at 5 per cent rather than 20.
What happens next
The statement says the council will start work on a new local plan to meet the higher national target. It also says the phosphate credit scheme should free some applications that are waiting for decisions.
Councillor Elissa Swinglehurst, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning, said in the announcement: “While the latest five-year housing land supply position is below the national requirement, it is important to understand the context behind the figures.”
Sources
- Herefordshire Council, Five Year Housing Land Supply (2026 to 2031), Annual Position Statement at 1 April 2026, September 2026, for every figure above unless stated.
- Herefordshire Council, Five Year Housing Land Supply statement, October 2025, for the 3.11 years, 4,452 homes, 1,433 a year and 557 completions.
- Herefordshire Council, Herefordshire continues to see new homes delivered across the county, 2 October 2026, for the 773 and 1,362 targets, the 5.73 years and the councillor’s quote.
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