Hereford allotments decision looms
A controversial plan to fence off a Hereford “pocket park” in order to turn it into allotments for a local group will finally be decided by councillors next week.
A controversial plan to fence off a Hereford “pocket park” in order to turn it into allotments for a local group will finally be decided by councillors next week.
Hereford Allotment and Leisure Gardeners (HALGs) applied over a year ago to convert the roughly square area, enclosed by houses and the rear of Our Lady’s Catholic Primary School to the west of Ross Road, into up to 20 allotments, which were to be protected by new fencing and a locked gate.
The land is owned by social housing provider Connexus, which backs the group’s plan.
The proposal has drawn over 30 individual objections. Herefordshire Local Access Forum chair Justine Peberdy said that, without any mitigating facilities, the proposal “results in the loss of vital community infrastructure”.
And Dr S Arun of the neighbouring Child Development Centre in Ross Road said its loss “presents a significant risk to children’s health, development and wellbeing, particularly those with special educational needs and disabilities and those from vulnerable families”.
But neighbour Elizabeth Morris said the park “has not been used for nearly 15 years”, had become a magnet for anti-social behaviour, and is “not a safe area for young children to play in”.
And Mark Robinson said the site was not in any case “public open space” as there was no provision for it to be maintained as such when it was transferred by Herefordshire Council 25 years ago to Herefordshire Housing Limited, later Connexus Homes, while its use for allotments had been established as lawful in a previous planning bid.
Most of the individual objections came from addresses elsewhere in the city or the county, with “few demonstrate a connection to the site”, Mr Robinson pointed out, while local groups which might have been expected to object to the loss of a play area, had not.
Planning officer Amber Morris is recommending councillors on the council’s planning committee approve the proposal, pointing out that, given the earlier decision, “the principle of allotment use is not under consideration”.
The additional elements proposed – sheds, composting toilet and access works – “are modest in scale and appropriate to an allotment setting, with no unacceptable impact”, while “no objections have been raised on highways grounds, subject to conditions”, her report for the meeting says.