AN eleventh-hour offer of fresh talks over the make-up of Hereford’s £200 million Edgar Street Grid (ESG) scheme could be enough to ease opposition to the project ahead of its toughest test yet.

A special motion to stop the scheme will be put to Herefordshire Council when it meets at Hereford Shire Hall tomorrow (Friday).

The ruling Conservative group is confident of enough votes to see the scheme through, but much depends on the margin of the win. If the numbers are slim, the scheme’s credibility could take a heavy hit.

But this week the opposition indicated that it was ready to accept a crucial concession from the council – an offer to open talks on re-siting key elements of the ESG, such as the retail quarter.

In a statement to the Hereford Times, the council said it wanted to shape the debate around “proposals for increased leisure and retail in Hereford and how best to place and configure new attractions and ensure they are closely connected with established city shops and businesses”.

The size and place of the planned retail quarter on what is currently Hereford cattle market is central to the objections of the It’s Our City (IOC) campaign against ESG in its present form.

IOC has ideas of its own about what ESG can be and where its new shops can go. A 9,000-name petition in IOC’s name supporting more investment in Hereford’s existing city centre is due to be handed to the council before the meeting starts.

Councillor Mark Hubbard, a leading IOC organiser, said that, taken at face value, the council’s offer was a chance for all sides to “sit round a table and discuss what has not been discussed before”.

Meanwhile, the motion was still going forward to tomorrow’s meeting, he said.

Hundreds of people are expected to join a march against the ESG at tomorrow’s meeting at the Shire Hall.

The march, organised by the Hereford Solidarity League, will meet up with the It’s Our City campaign.