Maggie May

There were people in High Town yesterday giving information about the Southern Link Road. It was good to see the maps as I hadnt seen those properly before. I must admit I cant see the point of £27Million being spent on this road - a complete waste of money to me. Would much prefer that if they have all this money they built a new library and information point in Hereford. It might then make us look like we really are interested in improving educational opportunities and have the potential to be a new University city or City of Culture,( as mentioned on another post).

Sorry Roger but if they want to flatten it for some godless sheds like the Old Market then I think I might prefer the scaffolding! Behind the facade there are some incredible timbered buildings - I think there is a room where the City burghers used to meet. A previous Council already pulled down the beautiful timbered Hereford Market Hall. They shoved the timbered building up a floor between New Look and M&S in the 60s/70s so please dont give Herefordshire Council any ideas about obliterating more of our history.

Just seen this on the Here for Hereford site http://www.hereforhereford.co.uk/2015/10/housing-and-the-southern-link-road/ - that the potential land available for housing inside the Southern Link Road route can provide over 15,000 houses!! The land owned by Herefordshire Council could be developed for over 2,000 houses alone. I knew they said that the road was not about transport but opening up land for houses and this certainly seems to be the case. A friend said that I shouldnt be surprised as apparently the Council will need the "New Homes Bonus" from the houses to help pay for the road cost and clear the debts they have run up. Does anyone else know anything about this?

Gosh this location makes much more sense and a modern building in that location much more fitting with the surrounding area than Bath St. The police will also have easy and quick access, even by bike, onto the Great Western Way as well as good road access to the rest of the County. However, the picture is rather misleading as the junction onto Edgar Street is supposed to have traffic lights on each road. I thought that sheltered accommodation for older people was supposed to go at the Meadow End of the football club https://www.herefordshire.gov.uk/planning-and-building-control/development-control/planning-applications/details?id=130888&search=Merton%20Meadow.?

Like a few others have said I thought the buildings were portakabins for the builders. I should be surprised these units got planning permission as they are so out of keeping with the rest of the building and the Old Girls High School building opposite, but then it is Herefordshire Council, so I am not surprised in the least. A friends son with learning difficulties used to do catering in the old buildings but they were moved out for the Robert Owen School. A bit like the Asperger's film club - cancelled by the Council with just 2 weeks notice due to cuts. Their boy has faced nothing but good services that he needs being removed and nothing put in its place. What I dont understand about the Robert Owen school is that I understood it took alot of children with learning/behavioural difficulties so a quiet countryside location with green open spaces (known to calm the brain and improve wellbeing) would be much better for the pupils. For this reason the Holme Lacy site made more sense. This City centre building is soon going to be surrounded by building sites and the associated noise and disturbance from the building/digging works. Perhaps the new road works and urban village buildings will drive out all the 69 pupils and then it will be ready and available for the new Hereford University at a knockdown price?

Thanks for these comments. I was going to take some young family members along as I thought it would be local food/sausages and local ciders, like the festivals that are organised on the Castle Green. Those are organised by the Friends of the Castle Green and are usually free so it means that we spend our money on the local produce and enjoy supporting local businesses. Perhaps this highlights the difference between the Friends of the Castle Green, who are local Hereford people and Herefordshire Council where many of the councillors come from out of County or certainly dont live near the City. I thought the King George V playing fields are playing fields and so couldnt be fenced off and people charged to go there.

Thank you GreenKnight - you certainly live up to your name - a knight coming to the rescue of a damsel in distress !! I will be interested to hear the reply from them, and whether they had been informed in any way of this proposed development. Someone has since said that this water might also be used by Cargill for their production line, but I have no knowledge of whether or not this is true. I wonder if any other posters can enlighten us?

I think the funding allocated for the refurbishment of corporate accommodation was around £16million - they did have to completely revamp the reception area at Plough Lane and put in alot of new showers! At least they didnt start building the extra accommodation they felt they needed to build there which would have nearly doubled the building in size and also they were trying to build a whole new access of Yazor road which was due to cost a few million. I wondered why they ever bought that building if it needed so much doing to it. If they need to increase income could they increase the rent on the new Livestock Market? I heard a rumour that the auctioneers pay just £60,000 p.a. The extra revenue might help fund a few buses for the farmers' neighbours to travel to town or the doctors/dentists.

Who will let Heineken know about these proposed plans as their head office is not in Hereford? I cant see Herefordshire Council or the developers letting them know the risk to their production processes as both just want 1,000s of new homes to make lots of money and wont want this jeopardised by any big employer.

I notice that the number of comments/letters on this planning application are now greater that the Council's original quantity of documents. 110 letters vs 107 Council documents. Apparently people can still make comments and objections as not all the evidence required to support this application is available and so you can still write in and have your objection registered. In view of some of the excellent comments posted by local people I hope more folk against this road will write to the planning officer and highlight that the road is highly damaging and a huge waste of our scarce public money. I cant find reference to this road being cut from the Council's costs in their Budget consultation- cant the money spent on consultants such as Parsons Brinkerhoff be better spent on our local libraries and bus services?

I understand that the water level in the boreholes for Heineken/HP Bulmer is less than 2m below the ground level in the summer so actually very close to the surface. What happens to all the run off from the roads, including the Western Relief road in this area, which includes oil and other nasty pollutants from vehicles - will this get into the water in the boreholes used in the drinks production? I have family whose jobs are dependent on this major employer and we dont want to lose Heineken due to pollution that could be avoided. Otherwise what jobs will there be for the people moving into these 1,000+ new homes? Or is this yet another area for retirees to move to when they sell up their homes in the South East for a fortune? It will hardly make Hereford the place for young families to move to if there are no good jobs.

I saw that Hereford BID are now employing someone to clean the streets early in the morning in Hereford City which I hope will help. Like many other posters I am disappointed to see the way the streets are more cluttered with such a variety of notices and billboards - I had to cycle round a A board stuck in the middle of the cycle lane on the corner of Broad St the other day - could businesses have a think about what they are doing? Those that clean and wash down the front of their premises I find are much more attractive to enter and if everyone does this it does make a big difference to the area. However, just this morning there are 2 older people drinking outside the Oasis Dental surgery on Belmont road at 9.30am, surrounded by litter and empty tins - such a shame. This regularly happens outside All Saints cafe. Perhaps that is why the Council want a bypass so no-one outside of Hereford will see the huge problem Hereford faces with drink and drugs all day and everyday.

If the Core Strategy or Local Plan is with a planning inspector for approval as a "sound plan" why hasnt it been approved? I thought the Inspector had the public enquiry back in February so if it is so good why hasnt the Council adopted it by now? Why is a Western Bypass the only option? Sorry but has Cllr Price bothered to read any of his own consultants reports? I am sure someone told me that the whole claim of the Southern Link Road as opening up Rotherwas was actually a lie and the Council's own consultants have admitted this in their report on the planning application. The Council apparently misled everyone over the need for this road in the South Wye Transport package. Where is the rest of the South Wye transport package such as extra bus services?Surely this is more "sustainable" than a road with no footpaths or cycle paths/lanes.

I think the proposal by the Civic Society was at least refreshing in that it was actually looking at different ideas. I think Clarkester makes some really good points about transport infrastructure, and I think looking at the rail network is very interesting as there could easily be railway stations at Pontrilas, Tram Inn and a friend tells me that there is an operational freight station at Moreton-on-Lugg - could this also become a passenger point? Add the Rotherwas Railway station and these proposals could really make a difference to new and existing residents to Herefordshire. Rail travel means that the local council doesn't have to subsidise services, it is much more sustainable (you can take your bike on the train - think how this would help promote sustainable tourism to the areas around Pontrilas and the Black Mountains) and journey times are not affected by car congestion. With more and more older people moving to Herefordshire for retirement, if the Council are determined to build the 16,500 houses mentioned by Cloudberry, then surely this will make the Council's budget much worse as Cllr Johnson keeps saying all of our Council tax goes on adult care and that is why there is no money for libraries, maintaining the existing roads, and for bus services. I must admit I think that the proposals make as much sense as the ideas from Herefordshire Council and so there should be a proper debate. As it is it seems that developers are deciding where all the new housing is going as apparently the Council keep saying they dont have a "5 year housing land supply" and so new houses can go anywhere in Herefordshire. I see a property developer from Pontrilas is busy proposing building all over Hereford City (I think he was behind the 100+ houses on the edge of Aylestone Hill) and is now proposing a big older peoples development at Whitestone, near Withington. How this will help these new residents get to doctors; shops; hospitals I dont know, unless he is also looking at opening up the old railway station at Whitestone? Perhaps with his knowledge of Pontrilas and Ewyas Harold he could design more developments in his local area rather than putting them on other villagers doorsteps!

I thought Herefordshire Council were going to install pay on exit parking equipment years ago, and this would really help people visiting the City. However, I suppose that might reduce the Council's income from parking fines for people who have overstayed by 10mins. Unless the Council encourage people to stay when visiting the City then of course the High Town shops will struggle.

I have seen that there are now 50 representations and some of them are really interesting with a lot of knowledge lacking in much of Herefordshire Council. I wonder if these comments will even be considered by the Council or will it just be ignored? At least with some of these representations it saves other people having to wade through those horrible big files on the planning website. If Here for Hereford are correct (Thank you Denise for highlighting this update) then more people can make other informed objections. Surely Councillors cant ignore a ground swell of local opinion that says it doesn't make sense to build a road between the A49 and A465 and is in fact a big waste of all our money.

Sadly they didn't just turf out Council staff but also quite a few children with special needs attending Herefordshire and Ludlow College who used to do cooking classes and other activities in the building. But children with special needs are not exactly priority for Herefordshire Council and who needs to cook with all the new restaurants in the OLM?

I have read Mrs Phil Edwards comments on the SLR and I am quite surprised at what she says. If all the lorries are to go on the A49 into Hereford surely that will be a nightmare for all the residents along the Ross Road. The Ross Road includes the access to a lot of the primary and secondary schools in South Wye so surely this will discourage children walking or cycling to school and make things even worse! Instead of asking for measures to tackle the traffic and reduce congestion she just seems to want to put in front of someone else's garden, house or community area. Surely the noise and the fumes from the new road will carry across the land and cause more noise and pollution to the Country Park, especially with a 9m high railway bridge. She might have a rather nasty shock when this road is built.

Thanks Megilleland for the link to the pictures. I see they only show the Belmont road looking up towards the Oval development, with lots of trees in the middle of the road. The pictures dont seem to show the section of the road looking the other way towards the Asda roundabout, as surely that is where the Council will be grabbing peoples' front gardens for the Walnut Tree Avenue junction. Jean Harris got a nasty shock about losing oak trees in her garden for the Clehonger Road link but there are going to be quite a few more people directly affected if suddenly the buses along Belmont road are literally going right past your doorstep!. I don't think any of these people are aware of what is likely to be happening until like Jean they get a letter on their doormat. This was kept very quiet during the election wasn't it.

I didnt realise until it was too late when I was talking to someone today, that apparently to widen the Belmont Road for the bus lane that the houses between the Railway Bridge and Walnut Tree Avenue are all to lose their front garden!! It doesn't make sense as I thought the road in the public display showed trees down the middle of the road somewhere in Belmont. Is this why they have only shown the route of the new Road and not what will be happening in Hereford.My friend also said that there were to be other changes along Belmont road to widen the carriageway but they couldn't remember what. Perhaps Cllr Phil Edwards will be able to explain what is happening as I understand he supports this plan.

Surely if the Council need to reduce their debts and save money, cancelling the Southern Link road would save us and the Country over £27million? There doesn't seem to be any benefit from this road as it just increases traffic on the A49. However, this map seems to show that the benefit from the road is that the Council must be carving up Grafton, Callow and Belmont for turning their own farms into large housing developments. Someone else told me that that Council own "Hospital Farm" on the edge of Burghill which is where the last section of the Western Relief Road is to go through high grade agricultural land to the north of Roman Road. I couldnt understand why this new section of road was required when the Council have already upgraded the Roman Road but if they are looking to sell all their farms for housing development all is now clear why they haven't renewed any agricultural tenancies.

I am glad Greenknight referred to the sewer smells in Hereford by HSBC. It has been like that for years but no one else has ever mentioned it and I thought it was only me who found the smells in the City Centre very embarrassing when showing off your home town to visitors. I tell people it is something like in York where to give people the idea of a medieval City they pump rotten smells around the museum there! Also, the smell of drains is very bad often just at the end of Capuchin Lane as you come into High Town. Will BID or Herefordshire Council sort these drains out as part of the centre centre investment plans? I noticed today that some of the stones that the City Council put down with brass lettering have now been replaced with some smooth black tarmac. Was this left over from another job and BB didn't want to use it on any potholes in Hereford?

I had a look at the objections on the Council website and was surprised to see so few, but then I read on the Council planning search page today that "We are currently publishing representations received on 27 May 2015" which means that any objections received in the last 2 weeks have not yet been put on their website. I hope there have been some objections in the last 2 weeks but it is very difficult to try and make a comment with so many documents. I am not certain what I should be looking at, and I cant open all 107 of them, my computer might die on me (though I don't think I have the internet access to download and view a lot of the files).

Is this where the council are to build yet another set of traffic lights on Edgar Street? Why didn't the link road join the A49 further up by the roundabout on Newtown Road? I am sure it makes sense to Herefordshire Council with their twisted logic and lack of any local knowledge.

If the government needs to save money to reduce the national debt and deficit, why are they giving millions to Herefordshire Council to build roads that wont tackle congestion? As CPRE says, why don't Herefordshire Council give residents proper choice and actually invest in safe cycle and walking routes and better public transport as this would do alot less damage and help our young people stay fit and healthy. Cycling today in Hereford was a real pleasure and I was completely free of any traffic queues. Instead of getting hot and bothered in the car I could enjoy the sunshine, get some much needed exercise and hear the birds singing. Saved me at least 20 mins travelling time and I didn't have to pay for any fuel or parking! I know not everyone can do this but some people don't know until they give it a go.