In late 2019 and early 2020, I interviewed 23 people about the bypass.

There were councillors, businesspeople, environmentalists and so-called ordinary citizens.

I analysed their detailed interviews in depth. Here are my two main findings:

First, Herefordshire does not divide into two blocs, one for the bypass, one against.

It is more complicated than that. Among those in favour, I found three distinct lines of reasoning. Among those against, I found four.

Second, there is a lot of common ground between all these groups, including across that for/against divide.

Some of the disagreement appears to be a matter of fact, implying that the areas of common ground could be enlarged by research, some of which may already exist.

This common ground should aid in developing policy that is less contentious than is usually the case with traffic and bypasses.

Something to build on?

Perry Walker
Hereford