£11.8m to be set aside to cover cost of dropping road projects

Herefordshire Council will have to set aside almost £12m to cover the costs of axing the Hereford bypass and southern link road if the schemes are cancelled.

Cabinet members agreed last month to drop the two road projects but the final decision will be made at a meeting of all county councillors next month.

If the projects are stopped, finance officers will be instructed to allocate £11.833m to cover the costs linked to the western bypass and southern link road schemes being de-capitalised.

Council leaders are expected to recommend that the Hereford Transport Package and South Wye Transport Package be removed from the capital programme at a meeting tomorrow.

They want to drop these schemes and instead pursue building a road bridge to the east of Hereford.

Cabinet members agreed to look into the possibility of a link from Rotherwas to the A438 Ledbury Road and improve walking, cycling, bus services and parking measures to reduce traffic in Hereford.

Work on the bypass and link road in Hereford was paused after the local elections in 2019.

The new coalition administration, made up of Independent, Green and It’s Our County councillors, agreed to pause and review the schemes which had been planned by the Conservative Party.