Herefordshire Council Choose 'Red Route' for the Western Bypass

[ragwert]

Herefordshire Council have chosen the 'Red Route' for the £129 million bypass.

Five homes are set to be demolished to make way for the new road. 

[Alex]

The sooner they build this the better 

[Paul Jones]

Personally, I do not believe the results of the traffic analysis, I see hundreds of trucks driving through Hereford everyday. All the other towns have bypasses, Leominster, Ludlow, Shrewsbury, Ross on Wye, I think this will be the best thing to happen locally, it has taken far too long to get to this stage imo

[Hereford Voice]

A report has been published recommending the selection of a preferred route for the Hereford Bypass.

Following Cabinet approval of a short list in January a public consultation was carried out in February and March to assess the public view of the Hereford Transport Package, which included active travel measures and proposed bypass route corridors. In addition, considerable technical work has been undertaken to assess environmental, engineering, economic and traffic factors that affect the different routes. 

Based on the technical work and the public consultation feedback, more detailed reports have been produced which recommend a preferred route. Based on this assessment the recommendation has been made to opt for the Red Route. If cabinet approve this recommendation the red route will be taken forward for further scheme development and consultation later this year.  

This next phase of consultation will then enable stakeholders to comment on the detail of a bypass scheme based on the Red Route corridor and complementary active travel measures.  The results of this consultation would then inform a future cabinet decision to confirm the bypass scheme and associated active travel measures.

These reports are now available on the Herefordshire Council website. 

Cllr Philip Price, cabinet member infrastructure, said:

Quote

“Herefordshire Council has had aspirations to deliver a bypass for Hereford for decades, and the project is now beginning to take shape. The Bypass will be key to promoting growth and active travel in South Wye and across the city. It will boost Herefordshire’s economy by allowing greater access to Hereford Enterprise Zone, as well as improving journey time and quality through reduced traffic congestion and delays. The scheme will also help to promote health and wellbeing in Hereford, addressing traffic emissions and noise, reducing accidents and encouraging physical wellbeing through active travel.

“We would like to thank everybody who took part in the recent consultation for their valuable feedback - more than half (59%) told us they were in favour of a bypass. The technical work has shown that the Red Route is more appropriate than the alternative routes when considering environmental factors and minimising the impact on people and residences throughout the core strategy corridor. 

“We are now letting people know about the next steps to keep local residents and businesses fully updated and involved with progress on the Hereford Transport Package, which will have huge strategic value for the whole county.”

Herefordshire Council’s Cabinet is due to consider reports and recommendations regarding the Hereford Transport Package which will include considering the preferred route for the bypass at a meeting on Friday 27 July 2018 at 10am. 

In advance of this, the council’s General Scrutiny Committee has called in the decision for pre-decision scrutiny; and will consider the issue on Wednesday 18 July 2018 at 10am.  

Both these meetings will be held in public at the Shire Hall in Hereford, and anyone is able to attend to observe the proceedings.  Members of the public will be able to ask questions in advance of these meetings and the audio of the meetings will also be broadcast live.  Details of how to submit a question and how to attend or listen to the meetings online are available on the council’s website

The report for General Scrutiny Committee and all accompanying information is now available to view on the council website.  The Cabinet papers, including a proposed response to any recommendations made by General Scrutiny Committee will be published on or before 19 July.

[Cloudberry]

Good to hear that so many (at least 41%,  those who responded to that particular consultation question)  realise that Cllr Price's claims won't work for Hereford. Many more folk are beginning to realise that because it is only to open up more land  for housing, this road will just make Hereford a horrible urban car-dependent sprawl with congestion much worse than it is  now. What a waste of money.  I really can't see all these planned new houses selling. And we all know how reluctant developers are to provide the "affordable" homes we really need.

[SON OF GRIDKNOCKER]

The admirable George Monbiot, writing in The Guardian about the proposed £multi-million super-expressway which will connect Oxford and Cambridge and which has already been waived through by the toothless Infrastructure Commission:-

"A recent study by the Campaign to Protect Rural England has shown that, far from relieving congestion, new road schemes create new traffic. But the treadmill must keep turning. Bypasses must be bypassed with new bypasses; new jobs must be created for the people living in all the new homes which will be built alongside the bypasses. Growth must continue until it destroys everything it claims to enhance."

The man should be the next Prime Minister!