ESG Chairman calls for Hereford By-Pass

The chairman of ESG Herefordshire Ltd, Sir Clive Richards OBE, has called for a by-pass and new river crossing around Hereford to be built.

Commenting in the ESG annual report, the Chairman made mention of the fact that if the redevelopment is successful it will attract even more people and cars into Hereford.

However the flooding issue has to be sorted before any progress can be made.

"Following the close to record rainfall and flooding in 2007, which has nearly been equalled in 2008, considerable effort has been expended to ensure that flooding on the site is not going to be a massive impediment to its development and subsequent value. We believe that we have now moved to a workable solution," said Sir Clive.

As regards the traffic issues the Chairman commented on the proposed East/West link road.

"The second main infrastructure project has been the design of the new link road between East and West parts of our site together with street design. Additional effort has been invested in traffic flows, resulting from the planned downgrading of Blueschool Street and Newmarket Street to allow easier pedestrian and cycle movement between the old and new elements of the city."

However nothing will work without a by-pass of Hereford.

"The perennial traffic problem will never be solved until a new river crossing and a complete by-pass to our city is in place."

As regards the future Sir Clive admitted that the 'credit crunch' will delay the project.

"In the immediate future the emphasis of the company will be on the infrastructure and in particular completing the flood mitigation scheme and the design of the new link road from Commercial Road to Edgar Street."

There is no mention of Hereford United and the football ground in the report.

---