Herefordshire Council are doing it again – asking us all to respond to another consultation about their plans for the future of the County up to the year 2031. Some of you may remember when those plans were set to take us up to the year 2026, but that was before several factors forced the Council to delay their plans. Now, as the clock ticks towards 2014 when a new Local Plan must be in place to conform with national planning policy, the Council has come up with what will be its last round of public consultation on its Core Strategy. In July it will go to Council for approval.
To help inform local residents Here for Hereford has organised another public meeting at Breinton Village Hall * Saturday 23rd March 2013, from 2–4 pm.
Here for Hereford has taken part in all previous consultations since it was formed in September 2010. It has held public meetings, and obtained through the Freedom of Information Act documents which might otherwise not have seen the light of day. Its executive members have attended very many Cabinet, Scrutiny, and Council meetings in order to be as well informed as possible about the Council’s plans for the County. It has kept in touch with its supporters and audience and has tried to explain some of the detail surrounding the delays and the obfuscation that has gone on.
The Public Meeting on 23rd March will start with a presentation from David Lovelace, landscape historian, (see post dated 2nd January 2013 on this website). Using digital methods of landscape analysis, David will describe the unique environment of Hereford’s Wye Valley with particular reference to the Western route corridors threatened with a so-called ‘relief’ road, as part of the Council’s Core Strategy plans. David’s talk will be illustrated with aerial photography and LIDAR (light detection and ranging) tiles which reveal the archaeology of the landscape over millennia.
After the landscape analysis and refreshments, there should be about an hour left for discussion and questions about the Council’s Local Plan Core Strategy.
A lot of the evidence from various stakeholders suggests some of the plans will still be found to be ‘unsound’. We expect there to be lots of queries as the consultation questionnaire (available from 4th March to the deadline: 22nd April) covers sixty-three policies within the draft Core Strategy, including the Sustainability Appraisal, the Strategic Environmental Analysis, the Habitat Regulations Assessment and the charge to be levied through the Community Infrastructure Levy.
Don’t succumb to consultation fatigue – come to the meeting, see if the questionnaire is, as the Council intends, ‘fit for purpose and crystal marked for plain English’ – fill it in and send it off – this is the last chance questionnaire !
*Breinton Village Hall is on Breinton Road, 100 yards east of its junction with Breinton Lane, south of King’s Acre Road. All are welcome – no charge – further details from vickiweggprosser@gmail.com
