On Friday, July 27th Herefordshire Council Cabinet approved the selection of a preferred route corridor for the Hereford bypass for further development and design.
Reports and recommendations were considered regarding the Hereford Transport Package at the meeting at Shire Hall.
A short list of proposed routes were approved by Cabinet in January 2018 and a public consultation was carried out in February and March to assess the public view of the Hereford Transport Package, including proposed bypass routes and active travel measures. Considerable technical work has been undertaken to assess environmental, engineering, economic and traffic factors that affect each of the different routes. Based on this technical work and the public consultation feedback, detailed reports have been produced which recommend the red route as the preferred bypass route corridor. The route chosen will see five homes demolished to make way for the £129 million road from Belmont to the A49.
The public gallery was packed with residents opposing the scheme – many of whom had cycled to St Peter’s Square as a form of protest.
Following a presentation by officers of the proposed route and several questions from councillors the cabinet unanimously agreed that the red route was the best out of the seven options for the western road.
This decision will now pave the way for a third phase of consultation and the council’s economy, communities and corporate director is authorised to progress the route design to a maximum cost of £2.45m.