HEREFORDSHIRE could get 27,500 new homes in the next 20 years – as many as the total current number of households in Hereford – under government plans to shake up the planning system.

To meet its pledge of a million and a half new homes in the current parliament, Labour has proposed requiring local authorities to approve more building plans on their patch, by changing the way its target figure for each is set and penalising those that fall short.

This would impact different parts of the country in different ways. Herefordshire would see one of the steeper rises, from the current 773 new homes a year over a 20-year plan period, to 1,375 a year – amounting to 27,500 homes over the 20 years, 12,040 more than before.

The draft local plan, the cornerstone of planning policy in the county, had already caused alarm, particularly in the development hotspots of Ross-on-Wye and Ledbury and where 1,800 and 1,700 new homes respectively are planned.

“Across the county we are seeing our beautiful market towns changed for the worse,” Ross councillor and former mayor Ed O’Driscoll said.

Having met council planning officials last week with Liberal Democrat colleagues to discuss the impact of government’s plans, “I am convinced the local plan will now need to be expanded,” he added.

“And Ross with its access to the M50 is an attractive proposition for developers, but we don’t want it to become a dormitory town, we don’t want a lot of four-bedroom executive homes,” he said.

“We need social housing, and jobs, to enable young people to stay.”

Meanwhile the town’s infrastructure “already desperately needs upgrading – drains, schools, doctors’ surgeries – and new building must go hand-on-hand with that”, Cllr O’Driscoll added.

Herefordshire currently has 82,800 households, with 32.8 per cent living in Hereford, council figures show – indicating the city has around 27,160 households.

A Herefordshire Council spokesperson said: “The authority’s recent draft local plan consultation set out a target for 16,100 homes over the plan period, so this is a significant proposed increase.”

Herefordshire Council is preparing a response to the government’s consultation on the planning changes.