Herefordshire’s ruling Conservatives have been warned they risk repeating mistakes of the past on big spending projects in the county.

The county’s ruling cabinet passed a package of measures reallocating over £30 million of council at a meeting on October 5, including £12.3 million for the revived southern link road (SLR) project.

But pointing to several mismanaged capital projects under the last-but-one council administration, former council leader David Hitchiner of the Independents for Herefordshire (I4H) said the Conservatives “do not have a good record” on these.

In May last year, the council's chief executive Paul Walker apologised to the county for the city link road scheme, which went millions of pounds over-budget under the last Conservative administration.

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“The [subsequent] administration I headed put in procedures to ensure such mistakes cannot be repeated,” Coun Hitchiner said, and sought a guarantee that no money would be spent on SLR without a full business case backed by councillors.

“We do not want an HS2-type disaster in Herefordshire,” he said.

Current I4H leader Coun Liz Harvey said she was “not surprised that the characters involved in this administration are returning to their bad old ways”, adding the last Tory administration “took millions away from road maintenance to fund the impossible job of making a business case for the SLR”, before it was cancelled by the incoming I4H/Green coalition in 2021.

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“If you’re going to return to that fool’s errand, you must expect scrutiny of councillors and the public,” she said. “Basic project planning and preparation are already being actively avoided.”

Greens leader Coun Ellie Chowns accused the cabinet of “doublethink” in claiming to be meeting the county’s net-zero commitment while moving funding from energy efficiency to road building.

A benefits-to-costs ratio for the SLR was last calculated in 2014, “but costs have gone through the roof since then”, she said, and asked on what basis the £12.3 million figure had been arrived at, “as there is zero paperwork to justify it”.

Without a business case, “you don’t yet know how much it will cost or whether it will be worth doing”, she said. “it’s utterly irresponsible.”

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Coun Price replied the sum had been allocated “so we can do the necessary work to get the business case brought forward for what is a priority for this council”.

“We will not be building that road until we have secured funding for it,” he said.

Council leader Coun Jonathan Lester added: “Had things been different, that route would have been built by now, and we would not now have to allocate money to get it back on track.”

The council has since put back a final decision on whether to progress with the SLR plan until November 23.