No decision until next year on Edgar Street refurbishment

Herefordshire Council leaders will not make a decision on future refurbishment plans at Edgar Street stadium until next year.

Cabinet members were expected to approve the first stage of the project at a meeting in March this year.

The initial £14.375m regeneration plans focused on providing student and or key worker accommodation, a community room and spectator provision located on Blackfriars Street at Hereford Football Club.

But the cabinet meeting of March 31 was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic so a decision to approve was postponed.

Councillors then said in July that a decision on the stadium project was expected to be made at the end of October.

However, no decision has yet been made and the council is now awaiting the outcome of bids for government funding before it decides the next steps.

Local resident Thomas Pincham has submitted questions about this issue ahead of the full council meeting tomorrow.

“On 28th July 2020, the Cabinet Member for Environment, Economy and Skills stated, in a written response to my supplementary question to the Cabinet meeting on 23 July, that the ‘Edgar Street stadium project is pencilled in on the forward plan for decision at the end of October. This is subject to the outcome of the review of the capital programme as mentioned by Cllr Chowns’,” he said.

“It is now December. What is the decision?

“It isn’t all that long since 20 000 Hereford supporters travelled to Wembley for the FA Vase Final so there will doubtless be a large number of local people interested in this decision.”

Environment, Economy and Skills cabinet member Ellie Chowns said the council not made a decision about the possible development of the Blackfriars Street site at Hereford Football Club.

“Hereford has been selected by government for Stronger Towns Funding, with the potential to seek up to £25m to support the redevelopment of the city.

“This requires the development of a Town Investment Plan identifying a future vision for the city and potential projects to deliver the vision.

“This is being led by the Hereford Towns Board. The Town Investment Plan will be submitted to government for consideration in January 2021.

“To enable the possible Football Club development to be considered through this process, the council have postponed our decision on this site.”