County leaders have formally backed a new 15-year parking strategy for Herefordshire, which revives the idea of a park-and-ride scheme to ease Hereford’s traffic congestion.
With measures proposed to give buses precedence in and out of the city, “Our aim is to create a park-and-ride that offers a genuine time and convenience advantage, making it an easy first choice for commuters, visitors and residents”, according to the strategy, now approved by the county’s ruling Cabinet.
Stef Simmons, leader of the Green group which prepared its own formal response to the strategy, said the council’s moves on park-and-ride and park-and-choose have been “aspirational at best until now”.
RELATED NEWS:
- Parking enforcement cameras planned in Herefordshire
- Move to pay-as-you-leave in Hereford car parks
- New double yellow lines to address 'inconsiderate' parking
A planned park-and-choose site at the forthcoming Three Elms development to the northwest of the city “should not go the same way as the Holmer park-and-choose site”, where a new housing development is now being built by the A49, she said.
Meanwhile the idea of a new “park-and-ride of sorts” linked to phase one of the bypass the south, “really does require further development and explanation, to help drive that modal shift for the last mile into the city”.
The county meanwhile has a “paucity” of electric vehicle charging points, she added, saying: “We would like to see a timetable for their roll-out, and a commitment that rural and market towns are not left behind.”
Including “solar shades” in car parks, which generate electricity while sheltering vehicles from the sun, is also “vital” given the county’s commitment to climate adaptation, Coun Simmons said.
For Independents for Herefordshire, Coun David Hitchiner said park-and-ride “doesn’t work everywhere” and may not in Hereford.
OTHER NEWS:
- Plan unveiled for huge new housing estate next to SAS HQ
- Council confirms date of major change to bin collections
- Landlords offered cash to bring county's 1,800 empty homes back into use
Liberal Democrat group leader Terry James likewise doubted it would work in Hereford, as “we have seven or eight arterial roads going into it, none of them linked” – though the bypass might change this.
“You cannot have a park-and-ride at anything less than half-an-hour [frequency], or people get fed up waiting,” he added.
Cabinet member for roads and regulatory services Coun Barry Durkin said the council “will consult on park-and-ride, to make sure it works for the public, and on the financial implications”.
Share