For cabinet to set out its recommendations to council with regard to stopping the western bypass and southern link road schemes and amendment to the capital programme; and

For cabinet to agree allocation of ear marked revenue reserves to cover the costs of decapitalising the two road schemes in the event that council agrees to stop the schemes.

The cabinet member infrastructure and transport introduced the item. He explained that following the decision reached by cabinet in December to stop the western bypass and southern link road schemes it was necessary to recommend to Council that these schemes be removed from the capital programme. Subject to that approval it would be necessary to reallocate finances to address spend that had been incurred, through the use of earmarked reserves.

The head of transport and access services explained the resource section of the report, setting out how the decapitalisation of the schemes would be achieved.

The cabinet member finance and corporate services reminded cabinet members of the background to the decision and the desire to deliver improvements in the travel experience in a shorter time frame by investing in public transport and walking and cycling. She highlighted where the current administration disagreed with the approach and decisions taken by previous administrations and the difficulties in meeting the terms of the grant allocation from the local enterprise partnership for the south wye transport package.

Cabinet members also noted the information presented at the cabinet meeting in December regarding the value for money of the various transport packages and the need to reflect the climate and ecological emergency. The importance of a second river crossing in the city to provide greater resilience in the network was recognised and the council would be working with partners including local MPs to secure funding to deliver this.

The cabinet member finance and corporate services confirmed that she was satisfied the necessary reserves were available to make the proposed adjustments in the accounts. Cabinet members heard that the treatment of the costs of the schemes to date was a normal practice and considered more efficient in that it spread the cost of investment over the lifetime of the asset delivered. Projects that were currently under development would need to be funded through revenue until a capital business case could be prepared.

Group leaders were invited to present the views and comments of their group. It was noted that:

• Some groups were supportive of the proposed eastern river crossing;
• There was some support for exploring how a connection between the A465 Belmont Road and A49 Ross Road could be developed if the southern link road was not to be taken forward;
• There were concerns about the impact of the decapitalisation on future revenue income;
• The previous administration had undertaken a huge amount of work to prepare the western bypass and did not agree that the grant funding could not have been spent, there was concern that the reserves needed to fund the decapitalisation could be used for many other purposes;
• There were concerns that an eastern route would present significant environmental issues and that the credibility of the council would be harmed by cancelling the existing projects which might make attracting future funding more difficult;
• The costs of the review into the transport package needed to be considered in the overall cost of cancelling the road schemes;
• Infrastructure was needed to support the economy of the county;
• Improvements to the A49 between Hereford and Ross-on-Wye were also needed.

Cabinet members concluded the discussion noting the length of time to bring forward any road schemes and a desire to focus on improvements for those people doing short journeys. The amount of traffic seeking to bypass the city was only a small percentage and it was felt that other options gave better value for money than a bypass. The importance of recognising the climate emergency was stressed.

It was resolved that:

Following Cabinet’s recommendation of 3 December 2020 to stop the western bypass and southern link road schemes THAT:

(a)    Cabinet also recommends to council that the Hereford Transport Package and South Wye Transport Package be removed from the capital programme; and

(b)    Subject to Council agreeing to stop the western bypass and southern link road schemes, cabinet, instructs the chief finance officer to allocate the finance resilience earmarked reserve amounting to £11.833m to cover the costs associated with the western bypass and southern link road schemes being de-capitalised.

The cabinet member commissioning, procurement and assets did not vote on this item as she had joined the meeting late and not heard the full debate.

Cllr Lester left the meeting at the conclusion of this item.