Dear Editor,

As a local resident I thought I would write to you so that your readers are advised of a recent planning decision.

At last Wednesday’s Herefordshire Council Planning Meeting, a plan to build houses on the field bordering Chase Woods at the top of Fernbank Road was approved.

This is a site on which several previous plans to build have been refused on the basis that the site is within the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and any development would affect the overall vista of Ross.

In spite of objections from the vast majority of local residents, the Ross Town Council raised no objections to the plan and has failed us all. Even more surprising, the Wye Valley AONB Partnership also raised no objections, although it seems to me that the development directly defies the purpose of their mandate.

The professional planners of Herefordshire Council also support the development in spite of their Strategic Herefordshire Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA) of 2011 referring directly to this site and commenting: “Is this site suitable (and achievable) for development?

Answer: NO. This elevated site lies just below Merrivale Woods and within the AONB. Its development would adversely impact upon the town’s setting in this location.”

One wonders what the purpose of these expensive documents is, if they are ignored and not referred to when developments are proposed.

So finally, a warning – the green slopes above Ross are no longer inviolate.

Watch out for this gargoyle development spewing its drainage and vehicles onto Fernbank Road and beginning to seriously degrade our Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

John Setchfield (Dr)

Ross