Dinedor Hill Action Association

This will run and run

2008-08-18T14:18:00.001+01:00

DINEDOR HILL ACTION ASSOCIATION

Dinedor Hill Action Association hoped that their success in the High Court would be the end of the long running controversy with regard to the proposed housing development at Bullinghope. So, it is disappointing to learn that Bloor Homes, but significantly not the council, have decided to appeal. But first, they have to obtain leave from the Court of Appeal. If granted then the appeal will be heard. However, it is not a re-hearing. The appeal would have to concentrate on the Judge’s reason as given in his Judgment and whether he misdirected himself or committed any errors of law. Regretfully this case is by no means concluded. It is going to run and run.

David Q. Miller

Bloor Homes to seek appeal - message to supporters

2008-08-18T14:16:00.001+01:00

I have to report that Bloor Homes are seeking leave to appeal in the Court of Appeal. This despite Judge Collins in the High Court refusing leave to appeal and the council opting not to appeal. However, in my view, I suspect that, the council were probably aware of Bloor’s proposed action and decided to leave it to them.

In the council-planning meeting today, councillors were not allowed to discuss Bullinghope on the basis that decisions on Bullinghope are currently sub-judice. I am advised that it was wholly wrong for the committee chairman to make this decision on the advice of the council lawyer sitting with him. Sub judice does not apply in this case, as the Court of appeal Judges would be considered in law not to be prejudiced by public debate.

Our lawyers in the case are currently on holiday and I will contact you again as soon as the picture becomes clearer.

We may yet have to rally round again.

Please see the statement issued today by Judge David Miller, Director of DHAA

Regards,

Peter Cocks

DINEDOR HILL ACTION ASSOCIATION

Legal challenge documents

2008-08-15T19:03:00.000+01:00

We've now added the main documents from the legal case to a new section here.

To appeal or not appeal...

2008-08-15T18:16:00.000+01:00

Herefordshire Council have announced that they are not appealing against the High Court judgement against houses at Bullinghope.

The Council were about to remove mention of the Bullinghope housing in a Planning Meeting on Friday 15th August when news broke that Bloor Homes have applied for leave to appeal as an 'Interested Party'. So despite being in the published agenda the item was dropped from the planning meeting.

The Association is therefore still asking supporters for funds in case the Bloor appeal needs to be defended. This will be announced by the Appeal Courts in due course.

Calls for special meeting into High Court decision

2008-08-08T08:27:00.003+01:00

Readers may be interested to read this press statement which has been jointly released by the Alliance and Labour groups on the Council, which is an interesting development in itself:

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A cross-party group of Herefordshire Councillors have called a special meeting of council and have tabled a Notice of Motion.

Labour Leader Chris Chappell and Alliance Leader Gerald Dawe have tabled a comprehensive resolution listing a multiplicity of reasons for the Council to start a full and independent enquiry into the events that led to the recent High Court decision regarding the housing allocation at Bullinghope that was unlawful.

They also want the Enquiry to investigate why the Council submitted all its evidence late and withheld some crucial evidence altogether.

“I will never forget the morning of July 28th two years ago,” said Cllr Chappell, who supplied a witness statement for the Court case. “The Council Leader Roger Phillips telephoned me with assurances on the Thursday night and then broke his word the next morning, overturning a decision of his own cabinet. The Court has condemned him for that and we need explanations.”

Cllr Dawe commented: “this was not some minor technical judgment, I believe that an enquiry will reveal how Bloor Homes and some elements in the Council were hell bent on turning a massive and historic green belt area into a vast building plot for JH Bloor in order to fund highly dubious infra structure projects.

The councillors, who have some Independent and Lib Dem support as well as Labour and the Alliance have greeted the Council’s decision not to appeal against the High Court decision.

“I am pleased to see that common sense has prevailed and that they are not going to waste tax payers money on a futile appeal” said Cllr Marcelle Lloyd-Hayes. “However, it is thoroughly dishonest for the same announcement to emphasise that there is still a desperate need for socially affordable housing when there was no intention of building any at Bullinghope. I was the only member of the Council to vote with the local Labour Councillors against this dreadful proposal in the first place and I do hope that many colleagues who were not on the council at the time and some who were, will understand the need for a full enquiry into what happened and for those found guilty of wrong doing or gross incompetence to do the honourable thing and resign. It is the duty of all Councillors to hold the Leader and Executive to account.”

Cllr Ursula Attfield, another long term campaigner, said: “a significant number of people in my ward have been put through a nightmare quite unnecessarily. We need to know why this happened and who was responsible.”

Stop press: Council will not appeal

2008-08-05T07:18:00.000+01:00

Herefordshire Council Chief Executive Mr. Chris Bull has emailed Dinedor Hill Action Association to confirm that the Council will not be contesting the decision of the High Court to throw out housing at Bullinghope from the local plan.

Urgent repsonses needed: Local development framework

2008-08-03T18:14:00.005+01:00

Dont forget, August 8th is a vital dead line for responses to the next Local Development plan (2011-2026)

It is crucial for the future of Herefordshire that we encourage the Council in a more forward thinking and sustainable direction than has occurred to date. For a brief summary and some simple ideas about responses visit www.herefordshirefoe.org.uk.

For Hereford and the "road paid for by houses" issue, you will see that they are suggesting houses should go to the south and west of the city. It is not explained why this is the best choice. The UDP Inspector thought the north of the city around Whitecross was actually better for housing. So you may want to respond in particular to this question.

There is also a leading question about an Outer Distributor Road. Our advice is to tick the box saying you dont want one. This question will be used to 'prove' that the majority of people wanted an ODR and the only way to get it is to pay for it by housing.

Celebrations as Council told to get it's act together

2008-07-24T18:14:00.000+01:00

10.00am this morning Justice Collins handed down a Judgement. BULLINGHOPE is OUT of the UDP.

It’s a strong Judgement and makes robust criticism of the Council for failing to produce crucial evidence.

Most of the points made by campaigners are set out and supported by the Judge.

Congratulations to Rebecca Rosseff, David Miller and all their supporters.

Full Council, Shirehall 10.30 TOMORROW Friday.

CELEBRATION PICNIC on Bullinghope Land TOMORROW FRIDAY Starting at 5.00pm

High Court tells Herefordshire Council to get it's act together on housing

2008-07-24T18:12:00.000+01:00

Campaigners have hailed the decision of the High Court to rule out housing at Bullinghope to fund a road scheme as a late but welcome victory for better town planning processes in Herefordshire.

Dinedor Hill Action Association had brought an action to the High Court under Section 287 of the Town and Country Planning Act.

The Court ruled that the Council had manipulated the democratic UDP process to allocate land for housing at Bullinghope simply to fund the Rotherwas Road and had thus:

- ignored the findings of the Unitary Development Plan enquiry

- Given inadequate consideration to the impact of development on the area

- Prejudiced a proper countywide assessment of future housing

DHAA spokesperson Peter Cocks said: "This victory puts the Council on notice that it must adhere more closely to proper planning processes. The Council must not use inappropriate housing development to fund new roads."

"Allowing more housing in this area would have set an appalling precedent for urban sprawl in Hereford with all the implications that has for the destruction of valuable countryside and increasing traffic congestion. We are delighted that the High Court has backed the original decision of the planning inspector."

"By not following proper practice the Council forced local people to go to the High Court at tax payer expense. This is completely unnecessary and all the Council need to do to avoid it in future is follow the rules and stop treating the public with contempt."

"The cabinet has shown its willingness to trash the environment and its own policies on affordable housing in order to get big housing developers to buy it roads to nowhere. This is not a good sign. In fact, when climate change and the demand for 16,000 new households should be top priorities, it's appalling. This judgement means no more big houses in the wrong place."

"Cabinet need to show in future that they can follow simple procedures so that they avoid being told off like this in future."

Report on 26/27 June Court Hearing

2008-07-10T07:58:00.001+01:00

The case was based on two narrow points of law. The legal questions concerned:

(1) Whether the council gave adequate reasons for their departure from the inspector’s view.
(2) Whether the council should have considered ordering a second inquiry

The Dinedor Barrister presented his clients case in a very clear and concise manner and demonstrated that he had a thorough understanding of the whole situation.

It seemed to those on the public benches that the Council’s barrister struggled; he certainly went away from the main thrust of the case. He brought in such irrelevancies as that no houses had yet been built on the alternative sites recommended by the government inspector and which have also been taken up by the council for housing development (i.e. Holmer).

Bloor Holmes had joined in to defend the action and employed a Queens Council, who proved to be a very powerful advocate and a specialist in planning matters.

The case ended at lunchtime on the second day, with Mr Justice Collins reserving his judgement. He asked to see minutes of the council’s meetings and invited further submissions, in writing, from both parties.

Judgment will be delivered at the end of July.

Court case deferred

2008-07-01T20:29:00.001+01:00

The Court Case, after two days in the High Court last week, before Justice Collins, concluded with a deferral, waiting further evidence to be provided by the Council. The judge will then make his decision by July 25th 2008. We will post the result as soon as we have it.

Finally in court

2008-06-26T08:04:00.000+01:00

The Dinedor Hill Action Association versus Herefordshire Council over the housing at Bullinghope finally goes to Court on June 26th and 27th at the High Court, The Strand, London.

According to the lawyer: The judge in this case will have very little (or no) interest in whether Bullinghope is the right place for housing. That is not the legal question that he needs to consider at all and is (almost) legally irrelevant. The legal questions concern:

(1) whether Herefordshire Council gave adequate reasons for their departure from the inspector’s view;
(2) whether they should have considered ordering a second inquiry.

How suitable or unsuitable the site is for housing is largely irrelevant. These points will be made briefly (in order to explain the background and emphasise the need for cogent reasons) but the case will be fought (and won or lost) on the much narrower legal ground of whether the Council applied the correct legal tests – that, for better or worse, is the nature of judicial review.

We will keep you updated.

Council should "get real" on housing and planning - Lib Dems

2008-06-26T08:03:00.000+01:00

And a press release from Hereford Liberal Democrats...

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Terry James the leader of the Liberal Democrats has written to Herefordshire Council Director of Regeneration Geoff Hughes calling on the Council to face the reality of the current economic and housing climate and relook at the housing proposed throughout the County in the UDP.

“It is clear” he says “that Herefordshire Councils plan to build 17,000 houses in the County has hit the buffers. The current housing slump means that for a number of years there is likely to be a substantial drop in the number of houses built in the County. So it ill serves the Council to push ahead with housing developments which are ill thought out and inappropriately sited. The classic example being the 300 houses proposed at Bullinghope.

It is nearly two years since with less than half an hour to go Councillor Phillips inserted the proposal to add this development to the UDP without any consultation with the community. Members were misled into thinking that this site had been appropriately assessed and had they been made aware of the problems with this location they might have looked at alternatives in the area.

Whilst I have always been supportive of the principal of housing funding infrastructure improvements it is now increasingly clear that this particular site is probably the most unsuitable for housing development in the whole of the South Wye. It appears that little had been done to investigate the suitability of the site before inserting it into the UDP. It does not have decent access, it floods, there is difficulty in connecting public services to it and maybe a site of historic and archaeological interest. We have been told that the Council would not seek its normal 33% affordable housing quota on this development, it will also have made no financial contribution to the Rotherwas access road. Indeed with the substantial fall in the value of houses now predicted as well as the inevitable drop in the number of houses being built it is likely that the benefit from any 106 agreements in the short to medium term will be substantially less than originally envisaged. Therefore it will not be sufficient to fund any major improvements to the road network.

I think now is the time with a new Forward Planning process to look more carefully at any future housing developments. The current Bullinghope proposal is ill thought out, environmentally damaging and will cause enormous traffic problems. The council need to get real, we must stop living in a fantasy world this is Herefordshire not Disneyland.”

Drop the housing says Labour

2008-06-26T08:02:00.000+01:00

Hereford Labour Party has demanded that the Council drop the Bullinghope housing as the High Court today considers a legal challenge about whether the Council has acted correctly in the way it was approved.

The full text of the Labour party release is copied below.

THE COUNCIL SHOULD NOT DEFEND THE CASE

“This week’s High Court case is a waste of time and money” says Hereford Labour Party secretary Bob Clay. “The Council is in a “lose, lose” situation. Even if they win the Court case the Bloor Homes application is “dead in the water”, (literally flood water and sewerage.”)

Bob has written to Herefordshire Council Chief Executive Chris Bull arguing that he should advise Tory Council Leader Roger Phillips not to defend the High Court Action by th Dinedor Hill Action Association which starts in the High Court this Thursday (June 26th.) (Letter attached).

Despite a reminder last week we are seriously disappointed that the Chief Executive has failed to respond. The points made were serious ones. Sadly, once again we appear to be dealing with people who seem to think that they are not only beyond “due process” but do not even feel the need to offer an explanation.

The facts are clear: against a Planning Inspector’s decision the Council voted to include Bullinghope in the UDP. Many Councillors made it clear that they only supported this because they were told that a contribution from a developer at Bullinghope would secure the funding for the Rotherwas Access Road.

It is now a matter of fact, admitted by the Cabinet, that the RAR has been completed without funding from Bloor.

This is not a minor technicality. Allocating Bullinghope for housing has been a major controversy for several years.

If the Dinedor Hill Action Group succeed at the High Court then Bullinghope will be out of the UDP and that will be the end of the housing proposal. But since it was only included in the UDP because Councillors were seriously misled there should now be a political decision not to defend the case and to allow the Bullinghope land to be removed from the planning boundary. It is not good enough for officers to decide how to conduct the court case. The problem is that no councillors dare express an opinion on this matter because of the interpretation of the code of conduct and common law that has been used repeatedly in Herefordshire to imply that councillors expressing a view on a matter could be deemed to be “pre-determined” and therefore unable to participate in planning committee decisions. This is why the Chief Executive should have intervened.

THE HOUSING CANNOT GO AHEAD ANYWAY

Anyone examining the objections lodged against the Bloor Homes application is bound to come to the conclusion that it will be rejected even if the Council survives this week’s court case. In addition to massive numbers of well argued objections from local residents and a devastating analysis of the traffic implications by independent consultants, the Environment Agency make it very clear that they think the proposal is far too liable to be affected by flooding, and Welsh Water make it clear that they cannot even commit themselves to a date when they could commence a water supply to the proposed estate. They also make clear that they think the proposals will exacerbate the serious sewerage problem that already exist in the locality.

On top of all this, there is no socially affordable housing proposed despite the Government and County Council’s own policies.

It is very difficult to understand why Bloor have even bothered to submit such an incompetent proposal.

There is already a strong case for an independent enquiry into how the Council got into this incredible mess and for every day that it now continues there will be more reason to call those responsible to account.

Bullingham Parish Council discuss housing

2008-05-06T16:50:00.000+01:00

Please be advised that lower Bullingham Parish Council are to hold a Parish meeting to discuss the Bloor Homes planning application to build 300 houses at Bullinghope.

The meeting is scheduled for 7:30 pm on Wednesday 7th May at Saxon Hall, Hoarwithy Road.

Bullinghope Housing Campaign

2008-05-01T20:12:00.000+01:00

The campaign was launched at a meeting last Monday convened by Herefordshire Labour Party.

Our purpose is to co-ordinate and maximise the opposition to the BLOOR HOMES PLANNING APPLICATION for 300 houses at Bullinghope.

Over 40 people attended, including local Councillors and representatives of the Dinedor Hill Action Group, Labour Party and Green Party.

Application can be viewed and objected to online at

http://www.herefordshire.gov.uk/gis/planQuery.aspx

by entering exactly: DCCE2008/0970/F in the search box (no spaces)

Deadline for public objections to housing at Bullinghope extended

2008-05-01T20:11:00.000+01:00

Due to Herefordshire Council’s failure to issue various statutory notices and letters the period for MOST public objections will not terminate on May 7th, but 21 days from whenever the necessary notices are issued (pretty soon, we reckon !) HOWEVER, if you are a local resident and have already received a letter you should try to comply with the date given in the letter, although objections received later will still be considered.

Questions to full council

2008-05-01T20:10:00.000+01:00

There is a meeting of the FULL COUNCIL on Friday May 16th.
The deadline for questions from members of the public is 5.15pm on Wednesday May 7th
If you would like a suggestion, please get in touch.

Objections to planning application

2008-05-01T20:09:00.001+01:00

Since the land at Bullinghope is in the UDP there is no point in putting in objections that it is encroaching on the Green Belt. (If the Court case on June 26th and 27th is won, then the land will NOT be in the UDP and Bloor will presumably withdraw their application.)

Application can be viewed and objected to online at

http://www.herefordshire.gov.uk/gis/planQuery.aspx

by entering exactly: DCCE2008/0970/F in the search box (no spaces)

Here are some ideas for possible objections:

• Traffic, A49 at capacity, how can the A49 and the bridge absorb more traffic. The Halcrow traffic study is saying it will cause more congestion but not grid lock. Is more congestion acceptable to the people of Hereford.

• The Halcrow Traffic Study uses figures based on 44% of journeys from the new estate being made by cars. This figure is taken because it is the one used in the City of Hereford, found from surveys. But in Hereford City people live nearer to shops and services, they are more likely to walk or cycle, so the 44% is not valid. It is more likely to be 80% or 90%.

• The Halcrow Traffic Study states that all journeys to the Railway Station from the estate will be by bus. This actually is unlikely, they are far more likely to be by car, because buses are infrequent. Again this means the Traffic Study is not valid.

• Traffic, the Bullinghope Lane is narrow and rural, is it acceptable to have high levels of traffic on such a road.

• Flooding, though the Environment Agency say the houses are above the one in a hundred flood level, the access road, i.e. Bullinhope Lane, does flood. Is it acceptable to have people cut off for two days or more, what about emergency services etc.

• Sewerage, can the services cope, apparently they are at capacity already.

• Lack of public transport, no extra buses are being provided.

• Lack of affordable housing, why are we having this development. It doesn't fulfil the needs of affordable housing or any other need in the county.

The UDP stated aim was to have the 'benefit' of the Rotherwas Access Road, but this has been built now, so the housing as it stands, without affordable housing is not necessary.

An excellent “Brief” by Ian Jardin is available here. If you have a particular interest or expertise in any area of objection, whether mentioned here or not, please get in touch.

There are a limited number of CDs available containing the Full planning application. Let Bob Clay know if you would like one.

Dosh

2008-05-01T20:09:00.000+01:00

We need money for leaflets, posters, meetings, admin, legal advice and much else. Cheques to:

Barbara Evans, High Force, Kings Thorne, Hereford HR2 8AL. (All donations receipted and accounted for.)

Fundraising is also taking place this month for the June 26th/27th Court Case referred to above. Cheques for this made out to Dinedor Hill Action Association, C/o David Miller, Highfields, Bullinghope, HR2 8EB

THREE THOUSAND EXTRA CARS ACROSS GREYFRIARS BRIDGE EVERY MORNING AND EVENING

2008-02-13T12:26:00.000Z

This may seem outrageous, but that is what will happen if Bloor Homes are allowed to build their ultimate aim of a new 2,000 house suburb south of the city on 600 acres at Bullinghope .

The Dinedor Hill Action Association have begun proceedings in the High Court. This to overturn Herefordshire council’s approval for building on the Green Belt at Bullinghope.

We have already won the first round when the High Court rejected the council’s application for protected costs of £35,000. Following our counter application, the limit of protected costs was set at £15,000, of which we have already raised £3,500.

Our lawyers estimate that we have a better than 50% chance of winning, in which case all the costs would be borne by Herefordshire council. Our barrister is so confident as to conduct our case in the High Court without charging us a fee.

If you feel able to support us, please contact us.

We need to raise a further £11,500 .

A win for us would mean that any money you donate would be a loan. 
If we win, any donation of £10 or more will be returned.

(Bank charges etc., would make the return of smaller sums uneconomic but we propose to pass the total of smaller sums to St. Michaels Hospice)

Your contribution, no matter how small could be instrumental in preventing further traffic chaos at Greyfriars bridge, as well as preserving a beautiful part of our county.

Please support us.

Update on legal challenge

2007-12-06T08:28:00.000Z

Dinedor Hill Action Association are taking Herefordshire Council to the High Court. This challenge has been made because we believe that the Council has manipulated the democratic UDP process to allocate land at Bullinghope for housing with the sole purpose of using money from the developer to pay for the Rotherwas Access Road. In doing so, the Council has:

• ignored the findings of the UDP public enquiry
• not given adequate consideration of the impact of development in this location
• prejudiced a proper countywide strategic assessment of the location of future housing
• proceeded with construction of the Rotherwas Access Road without sufficient funding in place and will therefore be unable to properly and impartially consider a planning application on the site because it has a direct financial interest in granting approval

The Dinedor Hill Action Association has given careful consideration, and taken detailed legal advice, before proceeding with this action. The Grounds for legal challenge selected by DHAA barrister is that the Council have not proved need for extra housing and, if such need were proved, have not given grounds for selecting Bullinghope over all the other proposed UDP housing sites that were rejected.

The Association is still waiting for the Protective Costs Order hearing. We asked for Protective Costs of £10,000 and Herefordshire Council asked it to be increased to £35,000. A judge will decide based on our witness statements. We are still raising money if anyone would like to donate to the cause.

Meanwhile Bloor Homes have submitted a very large 'Interested Party' statement plus folder towards the case. We have read through it and consider we still have a robust case.

Freedom of Information requests have brought to light email correspondence, notes from meetings and draft contracts showing the S106 money from Bloor towards the Rotherwas Access Road has been in discussion since at least December last year, each party trying to get as much as it can out of the deal. It has been agreed that most of the S106 money from the 300 Bullinghope houses will go to pay for the Rotherwas Road, retrospectively. The Council clearly see housing spreading up to the road in future Local Development Framework plans (which replace the current Unitary Development Plan).

Further updates

2007-11-15T09:14:00.000Z

The legal challenge to the use of housing to find the Rotherwas Access Road is ongoing. For details of the campaign to save the Rotherwas Ribbon visit www.rotherwasribbon.com.

Why bury Herefordshire's Stonehenge under concrete?

2007-07-06T14:55:00.000+01:00

Rotherwas Ribbon must be protected and road building stopped

A Herefordshire Councillor is leading a surge of anger against Herefordshire Council both locally and nationally for the secretive way in which it has made a decision to concrete over the now famous 'Rotherwas Ribbon' – something the council's own archaeologist has described as having international significance. (1)

Green Councillor Gerald Dawe, whose ward includes the now world-famous 'Rotherwas Ribbon', has described the proposal to concrete over this hugely significant find as “cultural vandalism of the highest order.”

“The first I knew about this decision was on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, yet I am the ward councillor. Decision-making is again going on behind closed doors. A clique in the Council appear to have known about this find for a long time. Why are they excluding the Herefordshire public yet again?”

“It is appalling that democratically elected councillors and the general public have been kept in the dark. Allowing only 200 people to view it for a few minutes this weekend is completely inadequate. We need council leaders to involve the whole council and local people in coming up with a more imaginative solution than burying Hereford's Stonehenge under concrete."

Cllr. Dawe has asked Council officials if English Heritage knew and when? How long has the importance of the site has been known, which councillors did know about it and when, and who has made the decision to concrete over the find and keep this decision secret from both public and elected representatives? He is still waiting for a reply.

“With such a significant find we must immediately pause the building of this road to allow further research and a national discussion about what can be done. The road will cost

￡

12.5 million yet as a county we earn

￡

170 million from tourism. The Stonehenge and Salisbury Tourism partnership say this could bring revenue to Hereford and they are right.(2) So why on earth would we pour concrete over it?”

“This expensive road is for a small number of lorries to an industrial site when access could have been improved in cheaper and less damaging ways. The Council have gone against the government, the planning inspector and their own consultants to build a road which is completely unnecessary when other local industrial sites remain half empty.”(3)(4)

Campaigners are calling for road building to be paused allowing for full – and national - democratic debate on the best way of using the discovery for the whole country, and to the benefit of Herefordshire's economy. Cllr. Dawe said: “The economic benefit of the road needs urgently to be measured against the positive economic benefit of increased tourism.”

It is understood that 12 eminent archaeologists from English Heritage are visiting next week and that the Regional Director of English Heritage believes the Ribbon to be of great importance.(5)

Nigel Swift, Chair of the UK-wide group Heritage Action, said: “We are appalled. Our immediate reaction is that this isn't a matter for local politics but should be out in the open. The Ribbon would appear to be a prime candidate to be scheduled by English Heritage. Until there is a clear understanding about this the road must be halted.” (6)

Cllr. Dawe added “The Council's Good Environmental Management (GEM) strategy states '...sustainable development challenges especially pertinent to Herefordshire include protecting and enhancing it's outstanding landscape including sites and species of national, regional and local importance and minimising loss of biodiversity.' (7) This find is not only local, and regional, it is nationally and internationally significant. I urge our Conservative Council to follow their own policies and start conserving instead of destroying.' (8)

More info, notes for editors and actions to take on www.rotherwasribbon.com

Why hide Herefordshire's Stonehenge?

2007-07-05T16:03:00.000+01:00

Herefordshire Green Councillor Gerald Dawe, whose constituency includes the now world-famous 'Rotherwas Ribbon', found through excavations for what is known locally as the "Rotherwas cul-de-sac", is appalled that the first he knew of this historic find was on Radio 4 yesterday.

He has asked Council officials if English Heritage knew and when, how long the importance of the site has been known, which councillors did know about it and when, and who has made the decision to concrete over the find and keep this decision secret from both public and elected representatives.

Cllr. Dawe said: "I'm appalled that local people are again being ignored and kept in the dark. The Stonehenge and Salisbury Tourism partnership say this could bring revenue to Hereford and they are right. The road is deemed unnecessary and bad value for council tax payers in it's current location, by both the government and by planning inspectors. We need council leaders to involve the whole council and local people in coming up with a more imaginative solution than burying Hereford's Stonehenge under concrete."

Cllr. Dawe is currently meeting with campaigners to plan further action and a further press statement will be made shortly.

Local campaigners are taking Herefordshire Council to the High Court seeking to overturn a decision to use developer funding (for housing development rejected by the Planning Inspector as being a wholly inappropriate incursion into the countryside) to fund the Rotherwas Access Road, on the grounds that the road is of no benefit to the housing development.

The road itself - supposedly to allow the expansion of the Rotherwas Industrial estate - has been condemned by central government and the local plan inspector as being unnecessary when sites elsewhere in Hereford remain vacant. They argued for alternatives such as a route closer to town, a rail spur and improvements access under a railway bridge, and said that building the road would increase local traffic.

Googling "Rotherwas" shows this to be a big story as far afield as India and the United States!