Lidl Three Counties Application, Full Planning Committee Have Final Vote

[Hereford Voice]

The application to demolish the Three Counties Hotel on Belmont Road and built a Lidl will be heard by the Full Planning Committee next Wed 13th March.

Report recommends acceptance but final decision rests with the Full Committee which meets at Herefordshire Council offices in Plough Lane in public.

If approved, the following trading and delivery hours are sought:

Trading:

Monday to Saturday Including Bank Holidays: 08:00 - 22:00

Sundays: 10:00 - 16:00

Deliveries:

Monday to Saturday: 07:00 - 23:00

Sundays: 10:00 - 16:30

Bank Holidays: 08:00 - 18:00

𝟭. 𝗦𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻

1.1 The ‘Three Counties Hotel’ is set back off Belmont Road (A465) Hereford to Abergavenny road and located in the south west of Hereford about 1.5 miles from the City Centre. The application site is about 1.66 hectares in size and currently has landscaped gardens (pond and patio area to the front which established trees) as well as car parking. The site is bounded by Belmont Road to the south, residential properties within Glastonbury Close to the north and east. To the south east is a wooded area and adjacent to that a ‘Drive Thru’ restaurant (McDonalds). To the west beyond the car park are residential dwellings in Flaxley Drive. The Newton Brook runs adjacent to the site to the west. The brook runs from Waterfield Road under Belmont Road and up alongside the Three Counties Hotel then into Glastonbury Close which also runs between Golden Post and Sydwell Road. Residential properties on the periphery of the site are a mix of semi-detached, terraced and detached properties.

1.2 A Tree Preservation Order covers 4 individual trees across the site, ref T1, T2, T3, & T4. The site is not located within a designated area known as a national Landscape (previously known as area of Outstanding Natural Beauty). The site lies within Flood Zone 1 (low risk of flooding). The site is not located within or adjacent to a Conservation Area and there are no heritage assets (including non-designated heritage assets) within the site, adjoining the site or in close proximity.

1.3 The existing hotel (now closed) had 60 bedrooms with 32 located in an annex to the rear (known as the Garden Rooms). When in use as a hotel it also has an ancillary bar and conference rooms.

Further information on the subject of this report is available from Ms Heather Carlisle on 01432 260453

The site is previously developed land/brownfield land. Since March 2023 until March 2024 the hotel has been used to house asylum seekers and has been run by the ‘Home Office’. The site is currently closed to the general public but would revert back to a hotel following the end of the temporary use to house the asylum seekers.

231703 - THREE COUNTIES HOTEL BELMONT HEREFORD HEREFORDSHIRE HR2 7BP.pdf

 

[megilleland]

The demolition of a perfectly good building serving the local community is a pure act of corporate vandalism. Downgrading the environment, increasing traffic flow with the related pollution problems and potential accidents and loss of amenities for affected residents. There are adequate supermarket facilities next to the  application site and futher facilities for local shopping at The Oval and along Belmont Road. The encroachment of the workings of the site for those living next door ie noise from constant shopping traffic and delivery vehicles, light pollution from the car park at night will bring a lower quality of life.

If the hotel does close, without proper investigation as to the opportunity for new proprietors to take over, then the Council should consider the benefits for the local community of the building being utilised for alternative uses. The council is I believe looking to finance a new care home. This building has 60 bedrooms and with relocating the doctors surgery and possible the pharmacy with the addition of a dentist and other medical facilities onto this central site, better use will ensue for local residents in some of the most deprived areas of Hereford. If the medical and health facilities were transferred to this site and building, the vacated units at Eastholm Avenue could become a small business hub.

Should this application be approved the Planning Committee will have done a great disservice to the local area and its residents and therefore the Planning Committee should reject this application.

[Mick]

This will be passed, it is so controversial the Herefordshire Council planners are daft enough to allow this building to be demolished in favour of big corporates. 

[megilleland]

On 11/03/2024 at 18:52, Mick said:

This will be passed, it is so controversial the Herefordshire Council planners are daft enough to allow this building to be demolished in favour of big corporates. 

Yes it needs to be built on the other side of town where the council want to build hundreds of houses, otherwise these future residents will have to travel into the centre of town or use Haywood Lane as a rat run to join tha A465 at Ruckhall adding to the congestion along Belmont Road. Where's the common sense in this application?

[megilleland]

2 hours ago, megilleland said:

Yes it needs to be built on the other side of town where the council want to build hundreds of houses, otherwise these future residents will have to travel into the centre of town or use Haywood Lane as a rat run to join tha A465 at Ruckhall adding to the congestion along Belmont Road. Where's the common sense in this application?

You can watch this council meeting live here:

 

[Hereford Voice]

3 hours ago, megilleland said:

You can watch this council meeting live here:

 

Most of the committee were in favour of refusal but we did think the Chair Terry James was a real ditherer and was more worried about being able to defend any legal appeal if refused. 

[megilleland]

I thought that the meeting was going to reject or defer the application. How wrong. Another community asset swept under the carpets of the boardrooms of the council and Lidl. Common sense doesn't prevail again. Add the demolition of the Three Counties to the Vortex, St Francis Church, Belmont Inn and what about the provision of a promised community centre following the Oval housing improvement. It's just a dream.

[Adrian Smith]

didn't mind how it went either personally, but I was flabbergasted by the highways/transport modelling & so called expert opinion that there would no be additional traffic issues and/or highways safety risks. Its gonna be wild with traffic trying to exit the site turning right.

 

[megilleland]

33 minutes ago, megilleland said:

Learn from history.

https://www.herefordshire.gov.uk/info/200142/planning_services/planning_application_search/details?id=131390&search-term=Keepmoat#tab1

Community Hub at the Oval Hereford Herefordshire
Thursday 15 August 2013Number    P131390/O

Current status - Determination Made
Decision - Approved with Conditions
Type - Outline

https://myaccount.herefordshire.gov.uk/documents?id=1f008b1f-ddb9-11e2-ac40-0050569f00ad

Another dead duck!
 

 

[M. Preece]

55 minutes ago, Adrian Smith said:

didn't mind how it went either personally, but I was flabbergasted by the highways/transport modelling & so called expert opinion that there would no be additional traffic issues and/or highways safety risks. Its gonna be wild with traffic trying to exit the site turning right.

 

I agree wholeheartedly. I cannot believe how many time Councillor Terry James pressured members and to be careful, how much he he getting paid I wonder!!!! 

[Alex]

I have download this video for future reference and this should have been rejected 1000%. 

[Peter Thomas-Cruttwell]

The traffic build up in and out of this supermarket is going to be a real problem. I hope Hereford Voice highlight this once this blot on the landscape is up. 

[jane1968]

Having viewed the whole meeting  this evening it is abuntently obvious to me that Bruce Baker was in complete agreement from the start of it being approved and also I noted how much the chairman was bullying every person that objected, funny that. What are mockery  🤔

[Adrian Smith]

18 hours ago, jane1968 said:

Having viewed the whole meeting  this evening it is abuntently obvious to me that Bruce Baker was in complete agreement from the start of it being approved and also I noted how much the chairman was bullying every person that objected, funny that. What are mockery  🤔

I think the chair was acutely mindful of losing any subsequent appeal and the considerable costs involved to the council in defending any appeal. I normally slate the councillors but the crazy 'expert' opinion of the highways and transport officers meant there was no easy evidential way to turn it down, though those of us with enough knowledge and experience of the area can see the inherent problems that will manifest once the store is built.