‘If the council is so determined to force the scheme through the downturn, it needs to make certain that the money is coming’ – Paul Keetch

MILLIONS of pounds worth of investment in Hereford’s Edgar Street Grid (ESG) project could be lost in as little as 18 months, it has been claimed.

Hereford MP Paul Keetch says that if Herefordshire Council wants to tough out calls for the scheme to be scrapped, then it must make absolutely sure of the money promised to it so far.

“Much of that money is coming from Advantage West Midlands, a regional development agency of the kind the Tories say they will abolish if they win the next general election,” said Mr Keetch.

“If the council is so determined to force the scheme through the downturn, it needs to make certain that the money is coming with an election as little as 18 months away,” he said.

ESG chief executive Jonathan Bretherton told the Hereford Times that the £20 million currently coming to the grid was confirmed in a contract signed by ESG, Advantage West Midlands, and Herefordshire Council.

That money, said Mr Bretherton, was reserved for the project’s infrastructure work, the first phase of which is due to start next year.

Mr Keetch, however, said that growing opposition to the grid meant the council should now be thinking about alternatives, such as redirecting investment efforts towards Hereford’s proposed new river crossing road.

He also reiterated his own long-standing opposition to a new cattle market coming as part of the deal that gets the grid going.

“Now, more than ever, it seems misguided at best to spend some £10 million on a new cattle market when there are so many empty shops in Hereford city centre,” said Mr Keetch Last week the Hereford Times reported that the man in the middle of big money moves to make the grid happen wanted the scheme stopped because the city simply didn’t need it anymore.

Leading commercial agent Jon Turner, handling millions of pounds of potential land and property deals for clients with interests vital to the grid, told the paper that he was ending all his ongoing negotiations over the project and advising his clients not to continue or enter into talks until the future of the scheme was sorted out.

Mr Turner’s stand came after he saw talks collapse with ESG over a 25% price cut it wanted to an agreed seven-figure land deal.

The project, said Mr Turner, was now crippling the very economy it was pitched as reviving.

Last month, the Hereford Times revealed that ESG had put its £200 million retail quarter plan on hold as the downturn deepened.

In the face of these setbacks, both ESG and Herefordshire Council are consistent in saying that there is now too much at stake to stop the grid.