Dear Editor,

Your readers need to be aware of a series of planning applications under number P173774/F at Biddlestone Orchards, near Llangarron.

This is a new industrial scale proposal to cover approximately 80 acres of our countryside in white plastic Polytunnels to grow Strawberries, and to build accommodation for up to 240 itinerant migrant workers. If successful, this could set a precedent for other developments.

The question for all of us, including Councillors and Planning Officers at Herefordshire Council to consider is – ‘what type of countryside do we want for our children and their children in future years?’.

Herefordshire is a beautiful county, let’s not spoil it for the material gain of a few, when there is little or no community gain.

Should this application be successful, the authorities are giving an undertaking to provide any public service required to an additional 240 people. As Herefordshire Council are cutting services and struggling to manage on reduced budgets and the Wye Valley NHS Trust is at breaking point, how can we confidently put another 240 people in to a system that is creaking at the seams.

If you value our County, please make your views known to Herefordshire Council Planning Department immediately.

Tina Crooks

Ross-on-Wye