MANY local farmers and several Herefordshire councillors are convinced that building the new Livestock Market on Roman Road, for which planning permission was given in July, will prove to be a huge and costly mistake.
Legal experts now confirm that the county’s Royal Charter to hold a weekly market was granted as a right and not a legal obligation. Many Herefordshire councillors argue that if the city-based weekly market was to close, the nearby markets of Ross, Leominster and Brecon would adequately fill the void.
Three years ago, after an extensive trawl of the rural area north-west of the city, Herefordshire Council purchased a 48-acre green field site on Roman Road. The formal purchase of the site took the council’s legal department over a year to complete when it was discovered that with the arable land came a restrictive covenant (placed by the Church Commissioners) against building!
Designs for a new timber-clad building complex were eventually commissioned from a member of the Amey group and a complex flood alleviation scheme, involving the 1.4km diversion of the Yazor Brook, also had to be put in hand, funded by regional government.
So with land purchase, legal complications, design, construction and landscaping costs, the total bill—for a market which will operate only 52 days a year—is likely to be in excess of £10 million. Many are saying this could prove to be an expensive white elephant.