CONGRATULATIONS to the Hereford Enterprise Zone for completing the new North Magazine access road which opens up 20 acres of development land, and links with the Rotherwas access road to the motorway network.

The zone is up and running and appears to be doing well.

But it does seem odd that the unelected Local Transport Board of the Marches LEP has claimed that the zone “cannot be delivered” without building another highway – the Southern Link Road – between the A49 and A465.

A recent Freedom of Information request to Herefordshire Council revealed this in the Strategic Outline Business Case for the South Wye Transport Package.

On the basis of the business case, the transport board has obtained a promise of up to £27.6 million of public funds to build this additional road, although transport modelling for it is not yet publicly available.

Is this link road really a priority when Herefordshire’s public services are creaking, and the County Hospital has just been put into special measures?

Would it not be better for the council to concentrate all available resources on improving health outcomes first, before building more roads?

VICTORIA WEGG-PROSSER Breinton