PLANS to place a car wash in a Hereford Tesco store car park have been withdrawn.

Waves Car Wash had submitted the plans to change the use of nine spaces to a hand car wash and valeting operation at the Bewell Street store.

But consultants working on the scheme notified Herefordshire Council they were withdrawing the plans.

The proposals had received objections from heritage experts and residents due to its potential impact on the historic city walls and its effect on parking at the store.

Resident Gail Hume said: “There are times when it is difficult to park in the present car park because of the volume of shoppers.

“With the amount of new houses being built, so will the number of shoppers requiring to park.

“This is already becoming noticeable in all the supermarkets.”

Historic England representatives said they had serious concerns regarding the plans impact on the nearby historic setting.

Ancient monuments assistant inspector Alison MacDonald said: “Hereford’s defences are of historical and communal importance.

“They are a physical reminder of the cit’s origins in a remote and turbulent period that also saw the construction of Offa’s Dyke as an almost unprecedented wwork of statecraft.

“They are tangible evidence of the city’s continuing role as a royal border fortress and as a self-governing political centre through the later Middle Ages, and a physical link to the events of the English Civil War.”

She said the scheme would detract from the city walls and that the baleting and car wash operation would not enhance the conservation area.

Herefordshire Council’s archaeological advisor Julian Cotton, also said the scheme was inappropriate and went against national and local planning guidance.

“This invasive development would be situated extremely close to the nationally important city walls and would occasion substantial harm to that key monument,” he said.

The car wash company and Tesco have been approached for comment on whether the plans would be resubmitted.