Tory candidate denies ruling out bypass

The Conservative candidate in a recent Herefordshire election has denied telling voters that a Hereford bypass can’t now be built.

Independents for Herefordshire (i4H) leader Coun Liz Harvey told a council meeting last week that on the Southern Link Road and Western Bypass projects, “the Conservative candidate for the Credenhill byelection is openly stating that the funding isn’t there, and that the roads won’t happen”.

But the candidate concerned, Gareth Johnston, the deputy chair of North Herefordshire Conservative Association, responded: “I fear Coun Harvey is twisting the conversations on the doorstep to suit her own ends.”

He said it was “quite clear” that funding had been allocated to progress the Southern Link Road, the first phase of the project joining the A49 to the A465 to the southwest of the city.

A strategic business case “is now required to support phase two of the bypass and secure funding for the project”, Mr Johnston said.

“When meeting voters on the doorstep, I explained that this was the case, and that when funding was identified, we should discuss the virtues of the western bypass rather than split the community before a route to market was clear,” he added.

Arising from the death of Coun Bob Matthews, the Credenhill byelection, on the same day as the council meeting, was won by Charlie Taylor, now an i4H colleague of Coun Harvey’s, while Mr Johnston came third.

During her campaign in the ward, through which the proposed bypass would run, Coun Taylor branded the plan “unworkable” and called instead for a second river crossing to the east of the city.

The council’s cabinet member for finance Coun Pete Stoddart told the same council meeting that a land agent has been appointed and a programme agreed to progress the southern link road.

Coun Harvey questioned whether the council should be spending on large road infrastructure projects when it was unclear these would be supported by the new government.