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Hereford Western Bypass Map

SOME FACTS ABOUT THE HEREFORD WESTERN BYPASS

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SOME FACTS ABOUT THE

HEREFORD WESTERN BYPASS

Hereford Western Bypass Map

It won’t solve congestion in the city: Council surveys and data show 80%+ of current traffic is within, or coming into and out of, the city. Much of this is school traffic: far less congestion in half-terms and holidays. Most HGV traffic is also coming into and out of the city and is not through traffic. 6,500 new homes by 2031 will only mean more local traffic: the project consultants (WSP Group) have admitted, in a public meeting, that city traffic will increase even with a bypass.

It won’t be cost-effective: In 2010 a single carriageway road would have cost £175 million. So the dual carriageway, if built, with a 300-metre span high-level viaduct across the Wye would now cost well over £250m. A49 journey times will be reduced by less than 8 minutes. The city’s congestion problems could be solved for a fraction of this cost.

It will destroy special landscape, high-grade farm land and homes: The River Wye is a Special Area of Conservation, the highest European level of protection, and SSSI. Unspoiled Breinton is a vital ‘green lung’ asset and amenity for city residents. Homes are under threat of demolition or major noise and pollution impacts. Grade 1&2 farmland, the setting of Belmont Abbey, ancient woodlands and historic orchards are all under threat.

…and it’s not even a bypass: All 7 routes pass through the planned 1,500 new homes site at Three Elms, and inside the city boundary. Council needs developers’ money to help fund the road, but also expects the new road to become the ‘trunked’ A49 so it can then ‘own’ the current trunk road in the city. But the Dept for Transport does not normally permit a new trunk road through, or next to, housing.

WHAT WE WOULD DO INSTEAD

Solve city congestion with. . .

  • Well-funded and reliable public and schools electric bus transport with real time information
  • Light tramways (e.g. on the Great Western Way)
  • An eastern distributor road (Rotherwas to A438) and river crossing
  • Safe and attractive cycle routes
  • ‘Park and choose’ facilities
  • Apps for local car sharing schemes
  • A city-wide 20mph limit
  • More mini roundabouts and fewer traffic lightsAll this would. . .
  • Cost less than a western bypass
  • Reduce pollution
  • Improve mental and physical health & well-being
  • Be properly sustainable

Preserve the city’s unique ‘on the doorstep’ countryside amenities

VOTE Matthew Bushkes for Kings Acre Ward

VOTE Matthew Bushkes for Kings Acre Ward

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VOTE

Matthew Bushkes for Kings Acre Ward.

Matthew Bushkes

Its Our County Councillor Matthew Bushkes after a successful couple of years as City Councillor is  also standing for County Council in the Kings Acre Ward.

Matt has a proven track record in his ward and community helping the constituents that he represents and getting the job done.

Matt looks forward to your support on the 26th October 2017.

Download Matt’s Campaign Leaflet Here

Dinedor hill

LOCAL COUNCILLOR LEADS CAMPAIGN ON RETROSPECTIVE PLANNING APPLICATIONS

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PLANNING DECISION RECOGNISES DAMAGE TO HISTORIC COUNTY SITE: LOCAL COUNCILLOR LEADS CAMPAIGN ON RETROSPECTIVE PLANNING APPLICATIONS.

A retrospective planning application to Herefordshire Council – made by the developer after major earthworks at Dinedor Hill had threatened the landscape and conservation setting of a Scheduled Ancient Monument – has been turned down.

Ward councillor David Summers of It’s Our County has worked for months with Dinedor Parish Council and local residents – supported by objections, including those from Herefordshire Council’s Archaeology advisor and national conservation body Historic England – to have the application refused. David has also led a campaign by It’s our County to tighten up regulations on retrospective applications where work has been done ‘under the radar’ before any granting of planning permission.

“Dinedor Hill is an important national archaeological site, an ancient hill-fort and Roman encampment where excavations have thrown up Iron Age artefacts and Roman pottery. I want to thank planning officers for their continued support, and all those who made objections to this scheme. My concerns about retrospective planning applications are shared by many people. We all think it’s a loophole that needs to be closed, and this result sends out a good signal”, said Cllr Summers. “I will now be seeking full restoration of the land to its former condition”, he added.

ENDS

CONTACT: Cllr David Summers   07934 702829

 3rd May 2016

NOTES FOR EDITORS:

For full details of the application and refusal of consent please see PA 160196: Land to the north of Maes Y Felin, Hollow Road Farm, Dinedor at:

https://www.herefordshire.gov.uk/planning-and-building-control/development-control/planning-applications/details?id=160196&search=160196

Hereford

Is the High Town refurbishment a waste of money?

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Is the proposed Hereford High Town refurbishment a waste of our money?

Hereford

The proposal to spend £2.5m on refurbishing Hereford high town refurbishment could be better spent across the county.

One Hereford councillor said “If 10% of this money were distributed around the Market Towns, just think of the difference it could make! This is just a Tory gimmick to attempt to make themselves look wonderful”

Read the full story here in the Hereford Times and let us know what you think.

Herefor Courtyard

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT..? NOT FOR THE TORIES!

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ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT..? NOT FOR THE TORIES IF THAT MEANS ARTS AND CULTURE!

Cabinet member Cllr Harry Bramer, whose portfolio includes Cultural Services, is ‘in denial’ about the value of arts and culture to their local economy.

Cllr Bramer’s statement came at the cabinet meeting on 10 March where the cabinet considered an external report on the future of the Hereford’s Museum & Art Gallery, Old House and the Friars Street resource and learning centre. The full report is at:

http://councillors.herefordshire.gov.uk/documents/s50032415/Review%20Museums%20Archives%20Services%20final%20background%20paper.pdf

It provides yet further evidence for the massive ‘added-value’ to the local economy of local authority investment in the entire cultural sector – from Glasgow to Margate, Gateshead to rural Dorset. And in Herefordshire the report states: “for every £1 spent on the Herefordshire Museums Service £8.41 is released into the local economy. Herefordshire’s 33 heritage attractions bring at least £18.8m of tourism value to local businesses.”

Cllr Anthony Powers, group leader of It’s Our County, asked Cllr Bramer to agree that such spectacular evidence should be applied to all Herefordshire’s cultural services, and not just to museums or statutory duties such as Archives and Records, in support of the county-wide UK City of Culture 2021 bid. His answer was a flat “No, I do not agree.”

All Conservative councillors voted against IOC’s recent budget amendment even to re-instate the Council’s meagre £60k support to the county’s arts organisations.

Good to hear such positive, evidence-based leadership on the Council’s agreed joint-top priority of economic development then. Oh dear, I forgot…economic development is all about road building, isn’t it Harry!?

Anthony Powers 12 03 16

Mraches LEP

Marches LEP – Secretive Quango?

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A secretive local quango responsible for millions of pounds of public spending needs to open up – say local campaigners

The Marches Local Enterprise Partnership was formed through a government initiative in 2010 as one of 39 such LEPs across England to act as a channel for national and European funding for major infrastructure projects in Herefordshire, Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin.

Nearly six years later, campaigners say the body should explain what it is spending – and how they are accountable.

It’s Our County’s leader Cllr Anthony Powers said: “Should an ‘informal partnership’ that is not even a legal entity be responsible for giving out tens of millions of pounds of public money in grants to local projects, should this partnership be dominated by unelected private-sector businessmen and be largely unaccountable to local tax payers for its operations?”

The calls came at a meeting of Herefordshire Council’s General Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 8 March.

“The answers from LEP Board chairman Graham Wynne and director Gill Hamer were not encouraging,” said Cllr Powers. “Despite being active for five years the Marches LEP is only now producing its first Annual Report, due in April; and LEP director Gill Hamer’s claim that its financial statements can be found on Shropshire Council’s website has been contradicted by the council who state: ‘The Council has concluded that the role of accountable body is to be deemed as an agent, and therefore the net grant held should not be accounted within the Council’s accounts’.  So where can these accounts be seen?”

Councillors and members of the public have had to pressure the LEP for years to be more open and transparent, and many local businesses are unaware of the opportunities the LEP offers. Successive Monitoring Officers at Herefordshire Council are known to have been uncomfortable from the start with LEP governance and accountability arrangements: yet nothing significant has changed in five years.

“It’s high time our LEP behaved more responsibly. The leopard may not be able to change its spots but the LEP must do so – and sharpish – so the public can know what’s going on”, said Cllr Powers.

Contact: Cllr Anthony Powers    07710 943313