Local Groups

CPRE Herefordshire has one active local group: Ledbury & District. An energetic group of volunteers monitors planning applications closely and lobbies on other local issues. They work closely with other organisations in the area.

We are keen to help volunteers to set up similar active groups in other parts of the county, for example in Leominster District, in Bromyard, in South Wye and in North West Herefordshire.Ledbury & District District Group. We would welcome offers of help from existing members or from potential new CPRE members.

Volunteers will be given full support with information and training.

Ledbury & North East Herefordshire District Group

Pressure from housing developers is a constant threat to the character of Ledbury and protests against undesirable proposals are not enough. To help secure sympathetic development, we  pressed for the production of a Parish Plan for Ledbury and are contributing to its contents.
Bromyard Road Industrial estate is a potential target for housing development now that the Government has indicated support for redesignating industrial land for housing where appropriate. The recent massive growth in housing in Ledbury is likely to require an increase in job opportunities and it will be important to retain capacity for future industrial development.
Press reports also indicate that Ledbury football and cricket grounds are being eyed by a developer for a major housing scheme. There are now few open spaces in Ledbury and we think it would be a serious and obviously irrecoverable loss if these sports grounds disappeared under a housing estate. This land has been designated in the Unitary Development Plan as recreational open space.
Protection of townscapes and landscapes cannot be confined to addressing major threats: ordinary, run-of-the-mill planning applications also require constant vigilance. This means a weekly scrutiny of all planning applications, identifying potentially harmful developments, dialogue with Planning Officers and letters of objection where appropriate. It is our determination that no proposal which might be detrimental go unchallenged. The steady involvement of CPRE has its influence and means that the Council are kept aware of CPRE and their persistence on protecting the local heritage from undesirable developments - small as well as large - while accepting that some change is inevitable and may be beneficial to the livelyhoods of farmers and others. Planning porposals are so numberous and varied that they would be difficult to characterise. Phone masts, polytunnels, barn conversion and infill are among the applications obviously needing scrutiny.
In pursuit pf CPRE's national  litter campaign, we have promoted and led a drive to remove street clutter from Ledbury, with the cooperation of the Town Council, Civic Society and Herefordshire Council's Highways and Transportation Dept and significant progress has already been made.
For several years we have tried to persuade Herefordshire Council to set up a Quiet Lanes network in this area and at long last some action is promised, in the Wellington Heath area, albeit on a modest scale.

Cyril Stone
Chairman

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CPRE Herefordshire is a registered Charity: No: 213951. The Campaign to Protect Rural England exists to promote the beauty, tranquillity and diversity of rural England by encouraging the sustainable use of land and other natural resources in town and country.