Transport FAQ
Q: What priority is being given to building both north and south Park & Rides so that they are completed ahead of the loss of car parking atMerton Meadow?
A: Herefordshire Council has already consulted over plans for the northern park and ride at Holmer. Meanwhile, the search for a site to cover the southern approaches continues, but in the meantime ESG is recommending an interim opportunity for a small Park and Ride at the vicinity of Hereford Leisure Pool. Temporary car parking will also be available within the ESG area, initially at the old Livestock Market, as the redevelopment progresses.
Q: How will the new transport hub work?
A: The vision for the new integrated transport hub is essentially a place where all modes of transportation coalesce to provide users a comprehensive choice of systems and interactive services in one place, with minimum need for lengthy or time-consuming changes from one place to another, and with most up-to-date real-time information technology. The hub will also integrate with all other transportation services serving the city, and associated sub-nodes such as the Tesco city bus park, and the county.
Some work has been undertaken to identify if a hub concept at Hereford railway station is viable, especially from a traffic point of view. This has been confirmed in the course of the extensive traffic modelling that has been undertaken over the past two years – See congestion issues above. The detailed designs for the hub and its full range of systems/services needed have yet to be done, and this will form part of a later work package when funding for the Hub is in place.
Q: Merton Meadow and other parts of Widemarsh are regularly hit by flooding. Is it wise to build houses here?
A: Our engineers have been working on this problem for over two years, invoking the most up-to-date regulatory requirements for building in former flood plains and technical advances, and have come up with a solution. This will entail channelling floodwater from the Yazor Brook directly to the River Wye along a piped diversion before it reaches Hereford. Additionally we have also identified the need for further Widemarsh alignment and environmental enhancements within the development area, together with the full exploitation of surface water drainage systems and relief processes of a sustainable nature. Much will also hinge on the design of buildings and the open spaces between them.
For the most frequent flooding, 85 homes and 30 businesses in Hereford will be removed from flood risk.
Q: What additional car parking will there be? What will be the impact on existing car parks?
A: Resulting from early work done by ESG concerning development and mitigation of car parking loss, Hereford Council commissioned a study to provide a Car Parking Strategy for the city, linked to its emerging policy for city long-term car parking replaced by Park and Ride schemes.
From an ESG perspective additional short-term car parking will be provided by a new multi-storey car park, with twice the capacity of the existing Garrick House one, scheduled to be built in the retail quarter in the corner opposite HUFC, off Edgar Street. Garrick multi-storey car park is expected to remain in use for some time, nevertheless. An earlier parking study identified that short-term parking demand in the eastern part of the city far exceeds demand. Accordingly a recommendation is to identify ways and means to increase that. One option linked to the transport hub development is to build a multi-storey car park at the Commercial Road site of the County Bus Station (after it has moved out) and neighbouring car park.
ESG is also championing the need for a real-time car parking and signing system across and on the approaches to Hereford.
Q: But what about car parking for the football supporters if Merton Meadow is to be built on? What about additional parking for the Courtyard Theatre?
A: A new multi-storey car park, with twice the capacity of the existing Garrick House one, is being built on the retail quarter. But it will be cheaper and more practical for the supporters to use one or other of the two proposed Park & Ride car parks, or come by train.