To seek approval to commence work to develop the Hereford relief road (Hereford bypass) in support of proposals within the adopted Core Strategy in the context of the overall transport strategy for the city.

The cabinet member, infrastructure, presented the report on the Hereford relief road (Hereford bypass). 

He reported that the decision made on the 6^th June at the planning committee to approve the route of the southern link road had not been called in by the Minister of State.

During his presentation he highlighted a number of areas, including that:

·         The relief road was a key infrastructure project that was necessary to drive the economic growth of Hereford and the region and had been identified as a priority within the LTP, the Core Strategy and the Marches Strategic Economic Plan.  It had also been a key theme within the emerging economic masterplan for Herefordshire.

·         The Core Strategy had been adopted in October 2015 and committed the council (in policy SS3) to work with developers and stakeholders to ensure the timely development of strategic proposals and key infrastructure requirements.

·         The preferred option for Hereford had been published for consultation in September 2010 and included a western bypass with a package of sustainable transport measures. The supporting analysis had concluded that whilst these measures improved the performance of the network, it was only in combination with a bypass that they provided the network capacity necessary to support growth. The western alignment had been preferred due to the likely significant impacts to the east on the River Lugg Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), the River Wye Special Area of Conservation (SAC), and the Lugg Meadows SSSI.

·         A Hereford bypass would increase traffic capacity to allow the city to grow with more homes and jobs and enable full delivery of Herefordshire’s Core Strategy housing and employment allocations, including those at the Hereford Enterprise Zone and the Three Elms employment site.

In reply to questions from members, he went on to say that:

·         One of the substantial risks in timetable for the project had been overcome as the southern link road had been approved by the planning committee although it was still open to a possible judicial review.  It was important that target dates should be met within the overall timetable.

·         Traffic monitoring was in place on all roads in and around the city in order to provide the necessary data to support the business case for the relief road.  The council was in dialogue with Highways England and the government regarding the project, and it was important that it be pushed forward in order to ensure that these partners were confident that progress was being made.

The Leader of the Independent Group said that there were alternative routes, and that a road to the east would make more sense from the point of view of serving the Enterprise Zone.

The cabinet member replied to a member’s question by saying that funding for Model Farm, Ross-on-Wye was a high priority for the LEP and he was not concerned that funding would not be forthcoming.

In reply to a member’s question concerning funding to be provided by the council to develop the relief road proposals, he said that the required funding would be forthcoming.  It was noted that the services of WSP / Parsons Brinckerhoff consultants are provided through the Council’s contract with Balfour Beatty Living Places which was the subject of a full procurement process a few years ago and there is no need to carry out a separate procurement process for this project. 

Resolved:

That:

(a)          funding of £600k be approved to support works necessary to inform route selection; and

(b)          authority be delegated to the assistant director environment and place to take all operational actions necessary to progress the Hereford bypass to route selection within the resources (including external funding) available.