Call for Sites Submissions – Lower Bullingham
Case reference EIR2026/01376
Received 14 June 2026
Published 10 July 2026
Request
Re: Environmental Information Regulations 2004 Request
I am writing to make a formal request for information under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004.
Specifically, this request relates to submissions made during the council’s recent "Call for Sites" exercise (which closed for its initial tranche on 31st January 2026) for the preparation of the new Herefordshire Local Plan.
I require details of any land submissions, candidate sites, or expressions of interest received by the council for the parcel of land immediately west of the approved Lower Bullingham Phase 1 strategic development boundary. For geographical clarity, I have attached an OS map with the specific area of land I am concerned about highlighted within a red boundary. The land sits around Grove Farm and the agricultural fields located directly to the east/northeast of postcode HR2 7RZ, bounded by the railway line to the north and Withy Brook to the east.
Please provide the following information:
Submission Status: Confirmation of whether any parcel(s) of land within this specific area have been submitted to the council as part of the 2025/2026 Call for Sites exercise.
Site Details: If a site has been submitted within this zone, please provide the unique site reference number, the proposed boundary map/polygon, and the proposed primary use (e.g., residential, employment, mixed-use).
Developer/Landowner Identity: The name of the party, agent, or developer who submitted the site for consideration.
Public Interest & Timing Considerations
I am aware that the council intends to publish a comprehensive Candidate Site Register in due course. However, given the immediate proximity of this specific land to my property and the significant, material impact any potential future allocation has on near-term financial and retirement planning, there is a distinct, pressing local interest in the disclosure of this specific geographic data ahead of the full county-wide register's completion.
If you choose to apply any exceptions under Regulation 12 (such as 12(4)(d) regarding material in the course of completion), please explicitly detail your public interest test balancing exercise, showing why early disclosure of this specific parcel's status would manifest a greater public harm than the public benefit of local transparency.
Response
Re: Environmental Information Regulations 2004 Request
I am writing to make a formal request for information under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004.
Specifically, this request relates to submissions made during the council’s recent "Call for Sites" exercise (which closed for its initial tranche on 31st January 2026) for the preparation of the new Herefordshire Local Plan.
I require details of any land submissions, candidate sites, or expressions of interest received by the council for the parcel of land immediately west of the approved Lower Bullingham Phase 1 strategic development boundary. For geographical clarity, I have attached an OS map with the specific area of land I am concerned about highlighted within a red boundary. The land sits around Grove Farm and the agricultural fields located directly to the east/northeast of postcode HR2 7RZ, bounded by the railway line to the north and Withy Brook to the east.
Please provide the following information:
Submission Status: Confirmation of whether any parcel(s) of land within this specific area have been submitted to the council as part of the 2025/2026 Call for Sites exercise.
Site Details: If a site has been submitted within this zone, please provide the unique site reference number, the proposed boundary map/polygon, and the proposed primary use (e.g., residential, employment, mixed-use).
Developer/Landowner Identity: The name of the party, agent, or developer who submitted the site for consideration.
Public Interest & Timing Considerations
I am aware that the council intends to publish a comprehensive Candidate Site Register in due course. However, given the immediate proximity of this specific land to my property and the significant, material impact any potential future allocation has on near-term financial and retirement planning, there is a distinct, pressing local interest in the disclosure of this specific geographic data ahead of the full county-wide register's completion.
If you choose to apply any exceptions under Regulation 12 (such as 12(4)(d) regarding material in the course of completion), please explicitly detail your public interest test balancing exercise, showing why early disclosure of this specific parcel's status would manifest a greater public harm than the public benefit of local transparency.
Answer: The Call for Sites study is currently ongoing and therefore we have determined that the requested information is excepted under Regulation 12 (4) (d) of the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 - material in the course of completion, unfinished documents and incomplete data.
The requested information is a technical, non-policy document created by local councils to identify sites that are potentially suitable, available, and achievable for housing or employment development. Some sites have been resubmitted from previous years and we will need to refresh assessments on them. The assessment is an important source of evidence to inform plan-making.
There is currently only the map and form submitted for the site in question. It will eventually form part of a large compilation of sites that will be assessed for potential development and published as part of the New Local Plan evidence.
However, the study is incomplete, and internal assessments are required from service areas within the Council before a view can be formed and eventually published.
This exception is subject to a public interest test and accordingly I have weighed the reasons for and against disclosure in the public interest as follows:
The public interest in disclosure:
Openness and transparency regarding the Call for Sites study.
The public interest in not disclosing the information:
The Call for Sites study is, at the time of writing, ongoing, and as such the decision making process is not complete. Material still in the course of completion includes information created as part of the process of formulating and developing policy, when that process is not complete.
Whilst this is ongoing, Herefordshire Council should be afforded safe space away from public scrutiny to review information and to collate any relevant information for the current Call for Sites study, and providing incomplete data at this time would hamper that decision making process.
Once the Call for Sites study is complete a Candidate Sites Register that identifies which locations are being considered as options for growth or not, will be made publically available on the council's website in approximately 6-12 months time.
Taking the above into consideration we consider the balance in favour of not disclosing the information at this stage outweighs the reasons for disclosure.
Please be encouraged to resubmit your request in 12 months and we will direct you to where it is publically available.
Documents
This is Herefordshire Council's response to a freedom of information (FOI) or environmental information regulations (EIR) request.
You can browse our other responses or make a new FOI request.