Opposition ready to challenge Hereford livestock market plan

2:58pm Wednesday 11th April 2012 in Hereford City By Bill Tanner

OPPOSITION councillors are ready to challenge the legitimacy of Herefordshire Council’s scrutiny debate of new terms to Hereford’s £90 million retail development.

The meeting, set for Friday, is effectively the last chance for those opposing the development to make a stand.

Tory Cabinet councillors backed the highly controversial new terms – outlined by the Hereford Times last week – amid scenes of public derision in the council chamber a week ago.

Tory members of the overview and scrutiny committee were invited to meet with the council leader, councillor John Jarvis, in the council chamber yesterday to “preview” the issues faced over the development billed as a “huge opportunity for Herefordshire” that must be “vigorously” supported.

Councillor Mark Hubbard, group leader of Its our County, said such a meeting was tantamount to Tory scrutiny councillors being “got at” ahead of the debate.

Coun Hubbard said he saw an initial challenge to the legitimacy of the meeting in the circumstances by which the invitation was sent out, which could, he said, breach rules on using council resources for political group purposes.

“We shall be following this up at the committee meeting and with the monitoring officer,” he said

Comments(10)

William Rudd says...
7:26pm Wed 11 Apr 12

More blah blah blah.
The jobless total in Herefordshire alone is near 3,000.Hobby craft who are opening a new store in May had 800 applicants for just 30 jobs.
With over 1,000 jobs being created on the old market site need i say more.

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Lukio says...
8:31am Thu 12 Apr 12

@William Rudd - I really don't think that 1000 new jobs are going to appear overnight as the council spin machine would have us believe. Especially as there is now no effective end date for the development. I can't see how a handful of shops (which more than likely will be relocating from High Town and bringing their staff with them) will create 1000 new jobs. There has been opposition to the plans for redevelopment of the ESG area since its inception but the council seem intent on pushing this through without realising the impact that this will have on the county. Yes, things need to be done but ESG is not the answer.

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old guy says...
7:42pm Thu 12 Apr 12

So the Tory's appear to have a plan to revitalise Hereford, which is much needed, and are getting on with it at last However the opposition, and in particular 'It's our County' appear to be trying everything they can to block it. If they do....then what?? What are their plans? I don't recall seeing any? if this visionary scheme is stopped what happens to Hereford? does it come to a grinding halt and we are left with a much outdated city?

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William Rudd says...
1:42pm Fri 13 Apr 12

Obviously not going to appear overnight being as its a 10 yr plan.Totally agree with old guy this City is dead in the water and needs the ESG as a starting point.Waitrose will bring 300+ jobs.This is really a very small development with only one major A1 store and 7 smaller A1 use shops.The rest are resturants and coffee shops,hardly anything that will pull the massive footfall that goes through the City centre every day.Remember what outrage there was when Maylords was going through planning,the same as what ESG is getting now.The sooner building starts the better.

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William Rudd says...
1:44pm Fri 13 Apr 12

Obviously not going to appear overnight being as its a 10 yr plan.Totally agree with old guy this City is dead in the water and needs the ESG as a starting point.Waitrose will bring 300+ jobs.This is really a very small development with only one major A1 store and 7 smaller A1 use shops.The rest are resturants and coffee shops,hardly anything that will pull the massive footfall that goes through the City centre every day.Remember what outrage there was when Maylords was going through planning,the same as what ESG is getting now.The sooner building starts the better.

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Lukio says...
7:29am Sat 14 Apr 12

@William Rudd & Old Guy - Are you totally missing the point here or have you been overcome by the Tory spin? The development will NOT create the number of jobs they state for a very long time - just read the variations to the agreement with Stanhope. We are not going to get the whole of ESG for years to come anyway, it will be done in stages. You both seem to be totally oblivious as to what will happen to High Town when the retailers move to the ESG area. We'll have a part-completed new retail area and a High Street that slowly dies. Read the Mary Portas Report that advises development of existing High Street areas and not the construction of out-of-town precincts. This council seems to be ploughing ahead now regardless of what common sense suggests and will be parting with £90m of public money in the process. I totally agree that something needs to be done to Hereford but the current proposals and plans are seriously the wrong path to be going down. Come back to this in 5 years when we have a part completed retail area and a High Street that's dead in the water.

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old guy says...
10:39am Sat 14 Apr 12

I agree that this development endangers the current retail areas of Hereford, but it's dying now! Significant numbers of people are not coming to Hereford to shop they are going instead to Cheltenham, Worcester, Birmingham and Cardiff. We are seen as a 'quaint' city that is simply not keeping up with current trends. I have seen the impact in Kidderminster of the Weavers Wharf development, disastrous!! Pressure must now be put on the Economic Development Team of Herefordshire Council to produce a working plan detailing how they plan to support current shop owners increase their business and ensure the City Centre does not fall into a spiral of empty properties and charity shops. I'm sure it can be done.

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Lukio says...
1:43pm Sat 14 Apr 12

@Old Guy - Exactly, something needs to be done to the existing High Street area. Surprisingly, Hereford retains 80% of its resident's shopping spend with leakage to other towns much lower than you would think. Weavers Wharf is a disaster as is Gloucester Quays as you rightly point out. We need this council to stand up and prove to us that they will support the traders and retailers we already have in High Towna and with smart investment and planning, put what we already have to their advantage. Selling out High Town to the developers of ESG i.e. Stanhope will seal the lid on the coffin of High Town.

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William Rudd says...
2:51pm Sun 15 Apr 12

Lokio....Did you not see my 'Obviously not going to appear overnight being as its a 10 yr plan' comment?

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probono says...
9:01pm Sun 15 Apr 12

Any jobs would be good, but Old Father Hubbard and his cronies are trying to halt progress

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