Herefordshire Council wants land for estates of 500 homes or more, offered by 10 December, to meet a 27,260-home target. What qualifies and what comes next.

Herefordshire Council is asking landowners to put forward sites big enough for 500 homes or more. Offers close on Thursday 10 December. The land will be weighed for the county’s new Local Plan, which runs to 2045 and decides where new estates are built.

The council opened this second call for sites on 29 October. It already has the submissions from a first round, which ran from 27 June 2025 to 31 January 2026, and is assessing them now. It says it wants to be sure “every reasonable development opportunity is identified and assessed”.

Why the council wants bigger sites

The government has set Herefordshire a target of 27,260 homes over the 20 years to 2045. The council says it is aiming to find land for 30,000, to leave some choice. Both figures come from its June 2025 call for sites announcement.

Spread evenly, the target works out at about 1,363 homes a year. The county built 677 net new homes in 2025/26, and 557 the year before.

Bar chart. Herefordshire completed 557 net new homes in 2024/25 and 677 in 2025/26. The Local Plan target of 27,260 homes over 20 years works out at about 1,363 a year.
Chart by Hereford Today. Sources: Herefordshire Council call for sites announcements, June and November 2025; Five Year Housing Land Supply statements, October 2025 and September 2026.
Share this chartFacebookWhatsAppX

The council’s guidance for site promoters explains the push for size. It says room for “conventional-sized extensions to existing settlements” is running out, and is unlikely to deliver the growth required. It adds that “it is therefore becoming increasingly clear” that one or more new settlements or large expansions of existing ones “could be required”.

By November 2025 the first round had brought “around 40 submissions”, and the council issued a reminder. It has not published a total for the full round.

What the council is looking for

The call for sites page says priority goes to land that could take 500 homes or more, alone or together with neighbouring land. It asks neighbouring landowners to consider joint bids, since two fields that fail on their own because of access, for example, might work together.

For a new settlement or a large expansion of a town, the guidance gives particular weight to land that:

  • is served by more than one kind of transport, such as an A road and a railway line
  • could take more than 1,000 homes, or 10 hectares of employment land, or both
  • is outside a National Landscape, an area of flood risk, a Site of Special Scientific Interest and other legally protected nature sites

The guidance also says such schemes must be built to “Garden City Principles”. A “significant proportion” of the rise in land value would have to be captured to pay for the roads, schools and services the new community needs.

A separate call for minerals and waste sites runs over the same weeks.

What a submission does not mean

Putting land forward is not a planning application. The council says it is “an evidence-gathering exercise” and that submitting a site “does not mean that it will be allocated for development or granted planning permission”.

The guidance says the council will publish a register showing the location and boundaries of every submitted site. Sites and their assessments will be published as part of its Housing and Economic Land Availability Assessment.

What it means for you

  • If you own land: submissions go through the council’s online portal by 10 December. Sites sent in during the 2025 round do not need resubmitting unless the boundary or key facts have changed. Queries go to localplan@herefordshire.gov.uk.
  • If you live near open land: there is nothing to object to yet. Your chance comes at the consultations on the draft plan. The council’s Local Plan consultation page describes several mandatory consultations in a 30-month plan-making process, and offers a mailing list.
  • Parish councils are among those the council invites to submit land.
  • When: the council’s timetable page says a new timetable is still being prepared. Until a new plan is adopted, the Core Strategy 2011 to 2031 still guides decisions.

Councillor Elissa Swinglehurst, the deputy leader, said in the council’s announcement: “This is about making sure we have the information we need to plan carefully and make the best possible decisions for Herefordshire’s future.”

Until then, individual applications keep arriving. Recent examples include 250 homes at Withington and 250 at Credenhill. Follow them on our planning news page.

Sources