Young people say what’s wrong with Herefordshire

Young people in Herefordshire have been spelling out their concerns to those standing in next week’s elections in the county.

Hereford Sixth Form College students Otis Janson, 16, from near Kington, twins Ben and Harry Collings, 17, from the north of the county, Maddie Lloyd, 17, of Eign Hill, and Jessie Punn, 18, from Ross-on-Wye, gave their views to the county’s local democracy reporter.

On transport, Otis felt the council’s public realm contractors “are useless – we have so many potholes, while Wales has perfect roads”.

“They are quite bad in the city too,” Maddie said, but added: “I walk a lot, it feels quite safe, even in the evenings.”

Jessie said that before she was able to drive, relying on service buses to get into Hereford meant “really crowded” services first thing, then not returning home to Ross till late.

Ben and Harry meanwhile take the train in. “But we always have to ask ourselves, will it be on time?” Ben said.

The students also felt the city could be made more appealing.

“Hereford has a lot of vaping and betting shops, a lot of places are closed, others look tired,” Maddie said. “Your choices for entertainment aren’t going up; if anything they’re decreasing.”

“It’s expensive to shop in too,” Jessie added. “Coleford and Monmouth are much cheaper.”

As the only one of voting age, “I won’t be voting Conservative – maybe LibDem or Green,” she said.

“They should commit to making Ross look nicer, otherwise people won’t bother visiting. The plant pots are full of dying things.”

As a rower locally, Jessie has also seen first-hand the deterioration of the river Wye through the town. “When I started in 2017 you could see the bottom. Now you can’t,” she said – an observation Harry, like his brother a kayaker on the river in Hereford, also made.

“We have found some strange things in the river,” Ben added.

Otis, who fishes, said he has also seen stocks in local rivers “go down so much”, and added he “doesn’t see the point” of government’s Environment Agency, in theory responsible for protecting them.

From a career point of view, “Young people don’t want to stay because there isn’t much here for them,” Jessie said, while Otis felt the county “seems to be for older people”.

“You have a sense of community here, people aren’t strangers,” Ben added. “It’s comforting. But after a while there is no one new to meet.”