It’s Our City campaign encourages much needed debate over plans for Grid

10:38pm Monday 14th September 2009

By Tom Kennedy

Debate is always a good idea, as it is important to hear and appreciate everybody's view. The proposed Edgar Street Grid development divided opinion throughout the city, and undoubtedly has both positives and negatives. It is fantastic that It’s Our City (IOC) have brought these details to the attention of the public with their campaign.

Regardless of whether you support the ESG or not, now could hardly be a worse time for the construction of a new retail quarter. The sight of empty shop windows has become disturbingly familiar in high town, and the major fallout from the credit crunch means that for many people luxury shopping items are simply not a viable option at this moment in time.

As IOC rightly comments on their website, "The proposals for affordable housing, leisure development, the university, and many other aspects of the project could bring prosperity to Hereford."

A glance at High Town proves that changes do need to be made, but it is questionable as to whether ESG's retail quarter currently offers the best option for the future of Hereford and her residents.

A further valuable point noted on the IOC website is that we must retain the historic core of our city. It is somewhat pointless to attempt to compete with bigger cities on a purely commercial level, as we will never be able to offer a better shopping experience than Cardiff and Birmingham, which are relatively close on the train. A better option would be to promote Hereford as a unique and vibrant city, offering something different to the depressingly familiar high street of every other city centre. Local produce should be made a priority, and more support should be given to the farmer's market in town. We should embrace our culture and history, not attempt to conform to every other city in the country.

It would be foolish to deny that Hereford would benefit from a much need 'anchor'store. The sad closure of Chadds has left a large building, which could easily be redeveloped to fit the needs of a John Lewis or Debenhams. The city would also benefit from the redevelopment of the Odeon, or possibly a larger cinema itself being built. The need for more car parking facilities is also desperately obvious.

Everybody wants Hereford to be a vibrant and attractive city, somewhere the locals love to live and a place where visitors enjoy coming. The city has a fantastic amount of potential, but in order to fulfil it we must ensure the best decisions are made for the future. For that reason, debate can only be a positive.