Bypass ‘will bring over 10,000 new homes west of Hereford'

Building “over 10,000” new homes around a new bypass to the west of Hereford will be key to meeting tough new government housing targets for the county.

The revived trunk road plan around the city, with a new crossing over the river Wye, is a central policy of the county’s minority Conservative-run administration, backed by the Liberal Democrats.

Extra impetus for it came before Christmas when the government confirmed its demand for an extra 10,500 new homes in Herefordshire by 2040, on top of the 16,000 target already set for the county.

What the council is now calling the Western Growth Corridor will “create over 10,000 new homes and over 300 acres of new employment land”, it says in its latest capital spending plan, which councillors are expected to pass next month.

However the council’s Cabinet member for environment Elissa Swinglehurst said it “has not yet agreed to this scale of the development to the west of the city”, but that would be included in a re-drafted Local Plan, the county’s core planning document, on which consultation will now have to begin again following news of the higher housing target.

What had been termed the Southern Link Road, intended to join the A465 and the A49 southwest of the city, is now the Hereford Western Bypass Phase 1, which the council says it will start building next year.

It expects this to cost £40.3 million overall – four times its initial estimate – of which it will have to borrow £35.3 million. The interest on this will be reckoned as part of the council’s revenue (everyday) spending. But Cabinet member for finance Coun Pete Stoddart confirmed that this would not affect spending on the council’s other services.

For the LibDems, Coun Kevin Tillett welcomed the “clear commitment” to the first phase of the bypass, with parties supporting it “representing the majority in the council chamber”, though acknowledging it “remains a divisive issue”.

Greens leader Coun Diana Toynbee noted that according to the council’s own documents, a full business case would still have to demonstrate “Phase 1” represented value for money in its own right before money could be committed to its construction.

Echoing this, Independents for Herefordshire (i4H) leader Coun Liz Harvey stressed it would be “Herefordshire people’s money being used to deliver this road”.

I4H and the Greens cancelled a previous city bypass plan in 2019 when in joint control of the council.