Colin Butler is concerned about Herefordshire Council's plans affecting Hereford FC.
So Herefordshire Council have confirmed that a new lease has been signed which keeps Hereford FC at Edgar Street until 2070. The council make all the right noises and say the football club are an asset to the county and the new lease shows the council's commitment to the club. I'm not so sure about that.
Personally I am disappointed that the club have not been offered the leases on the Blackfriars End, Hereford United leased all four sides so why not Hereford FC ? One reason may be that the council gain income from the mobile comms cells located in the Blackfriars End .The lease length given seems reasonable but Hereford United had over double that when they were in existence. Is it long enough to have a chance of gaining all the grants that are available to upgrade Edgar Street? Possibly not.
Looking to future there is a real possibility that our beloved ground at Edgar Street will not only be surrounded by houses but will also have some sort of council chosen accommodation built on the Blackfriars End. Feel suffocated just thinking about it. Maybe in the not too distant future the club will sadly have no alternative but to move away from Edgar Street. Not so much forced out by the council but coerced out by some very unhelpful landlords.
The council have stated on a number of occasions that no car park space will be lost until an alternative car park is built. Since then we have lost the lower end of the Merton Meadow and now we hear that the council plan to start developing the main Merton Meadow car park early next year. So they are not even going to wait to see if their flood ponds work!
They seem to say one thing and do the exact opposite. Comparable to my wife when she says she is not going to order any thing else off Temu and yes you guessed it she carries on ordering!
The council say that one of the benefits of the proposed urban village is that the occupants will frequent the shops, restaurants etc and give the city centre a boost. Surely though any extra customers generated from the urban village will be offset by those put off coming in to Hereford because of difficulty parking. It's ok for me as I can just walk down the Whitecross Road when I need to go in town or to the football. For others who live away from the city due to the lack of a park and ride and a decent rural bus service using the car is sadly their only choice.
The council point to stats which imply that there will still be car park space available around the city . Possibly so but most wouldn't want to end up parked up by the Leisure Pool especially if they want to shop in the Old Market and have a couple of kids in tow!
I was walking down Commercial Road last Wednesday and witnessed a little bit of mayhem with the traffic down there. Things were getting clogged up down Stonebow Road and tailing back into Commercial Road etc etc. I remember thinking who in their right mind would want to build a multi storey in that area ? Yes a proposed 600 space car park with access off an already clogged up road. Totally baffling! Also, surely it would be more difficult to police on match days what with both home and away fans making their way across to this new car park ? Much easier to monitor when fans are parked up near the ground.
What about building a multi storey in the Merton Meadow? There would still be space for housing and as the council are so keen on urban dwelling they need to look no further than their very own Maylord Orchards. The decline in retail there is plain to see and sadly I can not see it making much of a recovery. Why not create accommodation there? There is already flats located in Maylords and have been since it was it was built.
Councillor Polly Andrews had hoped for another public consultation regarding the Merton Meadow. If it happens it would be great to see as many people as possible add their ideas and voice their opinions regarding this.
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