A national report critical of Ledbury's provision for cyclists and its new housing estates has been attacked by the Ledbury Area Cycle Forum and local councillors.

The study, by the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), lists Ledbury among five market towns in the country singled out for criticism.

New developments in areas like New Mills are described as making the town look like "anywhere from Milton Keynes to Welwyn Garden City".

The Market Towns Survey continues: "In Ledbury, traffic levels and road layouts are such that it is not possible to walk or cycle with children along roads from the town centre to the surrounding countryside".

Steve Glennie-Smith, chairman, of the Ledbury Area Cycle Forum, said: "The CPRE probably hasn't taken into account Ledbury's Town Trail, which is the best way of getting out of town."

He acknowledged problems for pedestrians and walkers in Bye Street, where pavements are narrow, but he called the CPRE's criticism "a bit strong" and said that "unpleasant" might be a better word than "impossible" for some cycling situations.

Mayor Keith Francis, himself a member of the cycle forum, pointed to the Town Trail and Riverside Walk and to the new safer routes to school being developed around Ledbury Primary School and elsewhere.

He said: "What the CPRE report says is not true."

Herefordshire councillor Don Rule, of Deer Park, said: "I would remind the CPRE that Ledbury is a medieval town with a lot of listed buildings and if they are suggesting we demolish some to build better roads, I disagree.

"The Britain in Bloom judges think we are a very nice town and new developments have tended to be on the extremities. People need housing."

Ledbury's arch-rival in the Britain in Bloom competition, Alcester, in Warwickshire, was also singled out for criticism.