Herefordshire Council’s decision to abandon the Western by-pass has lost them the opportunity to have 1,200 new homes built by the Church Commissioners on the land they own between Kings Acre Road and Roman Road.

The Commissioners have dropped the plan for a huge new estate on the edge of the city for fear of thousands of extra cars, at least two per house, causing even bigger gridlock on the city roads without a bypass. Hereford Diocese have had to drop their plan for a new church for the estate.

Mind you, the decision of the previous Tory council to switch the bypass route from well outside the city boundary to bringing it into the city to run right through the middle of the Commissioners’ planned estate was not a very clever idea.

Families would have been poisoned by carbon monoxide and children placed at risk of speeding traffic.

Hereford has a housing shortage, and the price of those coming on the market are selling for ridiculous prices. I sold my house three years ago for £249,950. It’s just been resold for £345,000. What chance have our grandchildren got of owning their own houses?

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The council deserves credit for announcing it will restart building council houses, presumably for rent to families on low incomes. The Commissioners have indicated they might allow a few hundred homes on their land – a grand opportunity for the council to step in and grab a few acres to fulfil their promise.

The talk in the pub from those demanding a bypass suggests the Tories will regain control of the council at the next election. That would certainly please the Church Commissioners who are sitting on millions of pounds!

George Thomas

Hereford

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