ANCIENT woods and veteran trees to the south of Hereford are under threat of "devastating damage and loss" from a planned road south of Hereford, the Woodland Trust has said.

The Trust has objected to Herefordshire Council’s plans for the Southern Link Road, effectively the first part of the city's planned bypass, which are set to go before the authority's Planning Committee in June.

The group says the link road, which will connect the A49 south of Hereford with the A465, will bisect Grafton Wood, which it calls a great example of ancient wood pasture which houses mature and over-mature trees.

It also highlights a significant bat population in the area, claiming half a hectare of "irreplaceable habitat" would be lost if the route is given the go-ahead.

Oliver Newham, Woodland Trust lead campaigner, said: "This scheme is a clear example of a public body ignoring the importance of both ancient woodland and veteran trees.

"The Trust strongly believes that the council is perfectly able to re-consider the routing of the proposed road so that adverse impacts to precious, irreplaceable woods and trees are entirely avoided."

He said two other ancient woods will also be subjected to damage and loss because of the route, along with more than 40 mature trees and existing hedgerow.

The planned road, which would be just over two-and-a-half miles long, would cost about £25 million.

Herefordshire Council says it would form part of a package of measures proposed to address congestion and delays in South Wye while easing access to the Hereford Enterprise Zone at Rotherwas.

The proposal has been controversial, however. Last September, a petition against the route was handed to council chairman Cllr Brian Wilcox ahead of a full council meeting at Hereford Shirehall.

Then in November, Historic England said it had concerns over the proximity of the road to Haywood Lodge.

Herefordshire Council said the road is being designed "to minimise the impact on ancient woodland, except where unavoidable".

A statement said: "Ancient woodland was one of a number of factors that were assessed for each of the route options considered for the road, with ancient woodland forming part of the overall biodiversity resource assessed.

"There was extensive analysis of this matter in the appraisal of route options for the Southern Link Road.. All woodland blocks within the study area were surveyed. This survey work identified that Grafton Wood contains substantially fewer ancient woodland indicator species, and fewer botanical species overall, than the other four woodlands. Out of the five woodlands surveyed, Grafton Wood has the fewest features that are characteristic of ancient woodland."

The authority said a new area of woodland habitat will be created to compensate for any loss, which would be directly connected to the existing woodland. This area would be larger than the area to be lost and of "higher quality".