Herefordshire Council’s stated reasons for an access road, and for one in this line in particular, do not stand up to the smallest scrutiny. It is supposedly needed to take heavy traffic into the Rotherwas Industrial estate to allow for expansion, despite the fact that most lorries come from north of the river and this road will only take lorries from south of the river.
The Holme Lacy road at the last traffic count takes 9827 vehicles in 12 hours, 11% of which are lorries. This is not heavy use, other roads in Hereford take far more traffic.. It is estimated that the Rotherwas Access road will only take one third of this traffic and this only if restrictions on other roads are put in place. This is because the route will represent a detour for most travellers. With the new houses that are proposed to be built, in order to fund the road, this one third taken off the Holme Lacy Road will quickly be replaced.
The Council’s own commissioned traffic study found that building the Rotherwas Access Road will lead to a 22% induced traffic growth (a.m.) in 2022 compared to 14% growth under the ‘Do Nothing’ alternative. The consultants concluded that: “The Access Road is not a convenient route for most drivers accessing the estate.”
The Council state the road is needed in order to open up Rotherwas Industrial Estate to further development. Without the road, according to them, development of the estate is not possible.
We have plenty of industrial land in Herefordshire,
much of it lies vacant. For example Advantage West
Midlands funded a controversial access road to
Leominster five years ago costing £5m, the estate is
still vacant. So much so that the local paper reported
last week (Sept 2006) that a light aircraft landed on
the road, mistaking it for Shobdon air port. There is
also Moreton Business Park, north of the river, four
miles out of Hereford, on a railway spur and with land
to spare.
Herefordshire does not have an unemployment problem, it is currently 1.4% compared to 3.6% in the West Midlands and 2.4% nationally. Indeed much labour is imported into Herefordshire. The problem is low wages and expectations, not lack of jobs.
The real reasons for the road are that the Council see it as the first stage of a bypass for the city. The council cannot openly admit this as no funding for a bypass would be given. The £20m Rotherwas package to build the road does not include a river crossing, and leads to the wrong place for any future development. The most recent study puts a bypass to the west of the city as the only sensible place. If the Rotherwas road is built, with environmental considerations, getting the money and finding an acceptable route through housing and vested interested, any bypass using this route must be at least 20 years away.
Hereford has suffered awful traffic jams throughout this summer (2006) due to an Asda development at a pinch point on the A49 (the Belmont roundabout), narrowing traffic to one lane. Building the road and the 300 (plus, plus) houses will cause far worse traffic jams for the same reason for years to come. If and when finally built the RAR it will not take one single car out of the centre of Hereford. It is merely a road leading to an industrial estate.
Herefordshire does not have an unemployment problem, it is currently 1.4% compared to 3.6% in the West Midlands and 2.4% nationally. Indeed much labour is imported into Herefordshire. The problem is low wages and expectations, not lack of jobs.
The real reasons for the road are that the Council see it as the first stage of a bypass for the city. The council cannot openly admit this as no funding for a bypass would be given. The £20m Rotherwas package to build the road does not include a river crossing, and leads to the wrong place for any future development. The most recent study puts a bypass to the west of the city as the only sensible place. If the Rotherwas road is built, with environmental considerations, getting the money and finding an acceptable route through housing and vested interested, any bypass using this route must be at least 20 years away.
Hereford has suffered awful traffic jams throughout this summer (2006) due to an Asda development at a pinch point on the A49 (the Belmont roundabout), narrowing traffic to one lane. Building the road and the 300 (plus, plus) houses will cause far worse traffic jams for the same reason for years to come. If and when finally built the RAR it will not take one single car out of the centre of Hereford. It is merely a road leading to an industrial estate.