Support a thriving town centre 

The Conservative council intends to sell part of Broad Street car park for retail. Green councillors have raised residents’ and traders’ concerns and insist Herefordshire Council must first evaluate impact. The council is forcing Leominster to expand massively in coming years, so adequate parking space and a vibrant town centre are crucial issues.

Provide infrastructure before the town expands 

The council gave Leominster no choice on planned town expansion of more than 2,300 houses yet it has so far failed to agree that  a new road should be built first. The Greens are no fans of new roads but say bluntly our town cannot cope with a ring of new estates without improved infrastructure.

Safeguard Leominster’s green spaces

Support a tougher stance on planning. Prioritise new development on Barons Cross Camp, long earmarked for housing, rather than allow piecemeal development on valued green spaces in residential areas (such as the land at Westcroft).

A fairer share of resources for Leominster

A spending spree goes on in Hereford (such as a £27 million new link road across the city) – while the council fails to fix pot-holes in Ryelands Road and Ivington Lane!  The council economic plan focuses only on Hereford – it should be replaced by a proper county plan.

Crackdown on dog fouling

Reverse the cuts to services which have resulted in more muck in the streets due to the lack of council enforcement.

Clean up our polluted river

The River Lugg is suffering high-risk levels of phosphates and other pollutants. Herefordshire Council has a statutory duty, with other agencies, to protect the river.

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‘This is incredibly worrying,’ said Felicity Norman. ‘Such a serious breach of acceptable pollution levels could have a massive impact on future development and tourism, not to mention river ecology.’

She has written to the Chair of the Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee suggesting that the Environment Agency, Natural England and local authorities are complacent. She has asked that these organisations, along with the Wye and Usk Foundation, the Council for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE) and other expert groups, are brought together with the Council to devise an urgent action plan.

Councillor Norman has also raised concerns about intensive livestock units and how they are monitored. She thinks that the management of waste and cleaning operations may be part of the problem.

Councillor Norman has already raised the risk to the Council’s future plans should the pollution not be tackled and reduced, asking that the river be put on the Council’s At Risk register.

She has already raised the issue on several occasions but nothing is yet being done.(2)

Leader of the Green Group Cllr. Jenny Bartlett added: ‘The data shows that phosphate levels are way too high. This should be of concern to anyone with a tourism business and anyone who wants to protect our precious countryside. We will continue to press for the Council to take this issue seriously.’

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