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| What the Blackfriars End student accommodation and stand could have looked like |
Herefordshire Council has revealed it would have faced losses exceeding £18 million if it had gone ahead with plans to redevelop Blackfriars End at Edgar Street.
The ambitious project, which aimed to deliver around 400 student rooms alongside a new stand for Hereford, has hit its latest stumbling block — some 16 years after the stand was first condemned in 2009.
The stand was then demolished in the summer of 2024 after years of disuse, with hopes that clearing the site would pave the way for redevelopment.
But a recent report from the council, which owns Edgar Street, cites insufficient demand for the rooms from city colleges. A feasibility study found "a very significant viability gap" in delivering the accommodation across Blackfriars Street and College Road.
It would have required the council to spend more than £18 million that it wouldn’t get back — and even that is based on a 90 per cent occupancy rate in the rooms.
Since the council began work on this latest version of the project — which could have been four storeys — it says the viability gap has widened due to sharp increases in interest rates and construction inflation.
However, the council report by growth director Roger Allonby says the student accommodation element could still be revived if circumstances change.
When highlighting options other than pausing the scheme, which has cost £253,000 so far, the report said cabinet could have gone ahead regardless, which wasn't recommended, and neither was selling the land to education providers as they wouldn't have the resources, the capital or the capability to do this.
Hereford chairman Chris Ammonds said the club continues to talk to the council about the site, and it could be included in forthcoming plans to redevelop Merton Meadow car park instead.