Here for Hereford learned a lot from the campaign to try and save the fourteen 50-year old lime trees on Edgar Street, even though the campaign failed. On Sunday 22nd September, 2013, at seven o’clock in the morning, ten of the trees were felled to make way for another transport upgrade on the A49 through Hereford. Social media found its voice; the Council pushed through a scheme despite public protest; due process of consultation was ignored. Sounds familiar?
As our followers are aware, Here for Hereford provides facts and figures to help inform decision making in our beautiful county. On transport, we have held public meetings to ‘think outside the box’, and have commissioned independent road analysts. A further report from one of them is revealing gaping holes in the Council’s most recent case for a Hereford Relief Road – more on this in a later post.
Here for Hereford accepts that something needs to be done about traffic congestion in Hereford. It occurs mainly at peak times in the City environs, outside of school holidays. We support Cycle Hereford in their efforts to make historic Hereford a safe haven for pedestrians and cyclists with clean air and quiet streets. We praised Councillor Graham Powell when he said he would abandon the £3.3million ‘Destination Hereford’ Broad Street refurbishment in favour of spending the money on sustainable transport measures.
What has happened to that £3.3million and to the other £8.5million that made up the Destination Hereford funding package? It would be good to know how much progress has been made. The Council’s Overview and Scrutiny committee were supposed to receive regular monitoring reports, but these cannot be found. In September 2013 we learned that the changes to Destination Hereford were agreed by a single Herefordshire Council Cabinet Member, and then discussed directly with the Department for Transport. So much for local democracy and the Council’s commitment in the bid to political engagement.
Herefordshire Council is run by a few Cabinet Members who live outside of the City of Hereford itself; some even admit on radio to having little knowledge or expertise; intemperate language is being used. Pressure groups are starting to have an impact through social media, and it can surely only be a matter of time before someone within the Council starts to ‘blow the whistle’.
Wouldn’t it be better to have an open debate and full transparency?
