A message from Hereford Transport Alliance

Dear Friend I am writing to you because during the long journey of the last few years you have expressed a preference for more sustainable transport measures to address transport issues in Hereford than the previous Council Conservative administration’s policy of building the Southern Link Rad and the Western Bypass. 

As you know the new administration of IOC , Independent and Green Councillors have put these plans on hold – a “Pause and Review ” to consider whether in the context of climate change more sustainable transport measures would be effective – and a better transport policy for Hereford could be the way forward .http://councillors.herefordshire.gov.uk/ieDecisionDetails.aspx?ID=6581

The scope of the review has now been agreed, and we are entering a period of consultation and examination of alternatives http://councillors.herefordshire.gov.uk/documents/s50074586/Hereford%20Transport%20South%20Wye%20Transport%20Packages%20review%20main%20report.pdf

In case you have not spotted it, Herefordshire Council have published a new survey as part of the Transport Strategy  Review.  I have just completed mine and relatively it is a joy compared with previous consultations. 

It can be found here:
https://www.herefordshire.gov.uk/info/200196/roads/252/developments_in_hereford

We are hoping that you will take the time to complete this survey and reply to Herefordshire Council.

There is a very vocal lobby for keeping the bypass plans, so it is important that those of us who do not see this as the way forward continue to express our views in a constructive manner 

Best wishes, Carole Protherough 
Chair Hereford Ttransport Alliance 

1 Comment

  • For info, the I sent the following suggestions/comments as part of my response to the Council’s transport survey:

    “Before talking about new roads and river crossings, we ought to explore options for reducing home to school traffic.
    I live on the Ledbury Road and notice a huge reduction the volume of morning rush hour traffic during school holidays, which suggests that home to school traffic is a very significant part of the overall congestion/traffic flow problem in the city. My previous job involved bringing children into a school in the centre of the city by minibus. The route took me down the Belmont Road at about 07.45 am; however it could often take 30-40 minutes to travel from Tesco at the top end to the Asda roundabout. Contrary to popular belief, the main problem was internal traffic, not through traffic. This was evidenced by a frequently-observed situation where the vehicle directly in front of me at the top end of the Belmont Road, would be 20 or so vehicles ahead by the time I reached the Asda roundabout, with the intervening vehicles coming out of various side roads (ie not through traffic).I did not consider myself unusually generous in terms of allowing cars to pull out of the side roads in front of me, suggesting that perhaps only one in twenty vehicles could be regarded as through traffic. I realise that this is far from being a detailed study of the problem; however it does help to paint a picture of the situation.
    One of the ways the problem of rush hour congestion might be addressed could be to provide people with workable alternatives to the use of the private car for the school run. One measure might be to provide a school drop-off and ride service, which could be used by people bringing children in from out of town, as well as those living in town who do not wish to fight their way through heavy traffic to get their kids to school. A small charge could be made for the service, with each bus stopping at schools clustered in the same area. I’m sure the savings in fuel usually wasted idling in long queues would go some way towards covering the charge made by the bus service, which in turn could be self-financing. Parents would be less stressed, children would develop good travel habits, air quality would improve – everyone’s a winner. (Outside of school hours the service could revert to a more conventional park and ride service).
    With such a schools service in place it might then be appropriate to consider more punitive measures such as restrictions on parking near schools and possibly congestion charging zones around schools.
    It seems to me that ideas such as these should be tried before expensive road/bridge building schemes are explored any further.
    The idea of a bypass has been around for at least 30 years, during which little progress has been made. If during that time alternative ideas such as the one above had been tried out, then by now we would have had a substantial body of hard evidence to base any decisions on. It’s still not too late to explore such alternatives, which are much more in line with the Council’s declaration of a climate emergency.
    We do not have the right to sacrifice our children’s health and future on the altar of misguided grandiose infrastructure projects.”

    Paul Paice February 7, 2020

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