Hereford city cycle plan costs up 50pc

Work to make a central Hereford street more cycle-friendly will cost more than a million pounds, it has been revealed.

The St Owen Street cycle contraflow “has a budget of £1,077,657.92, which includes an allowance for risk”, according to a council decision to enable the work, being carried out by the council’s public realm contractor Balfour Beatty Living Places.

This figure is more than 50 per cent higher than the £700,000 originally agreed for the scheme in October last year.

The work forms part of a wider £6 million package of improvements around the city centre, jointly funded by the Marches local enterprise partnership (LEP).

The council admitted it “has struggled to deliver all elements of the project in line with the initial programme set out by the LEP”.

It has since redesigned the scheme to comply with the Department for Transport’s guidance on cycle infrastructure design, which has meant installing extra safety features and new traffic lights at the junction with Bath Street. Not to have done so could have limited future opportunities to bid for further funding, it added.

Resurfacing work on the street, currently nearing completion, is separate to the contraflow scheme and “is being delivered concurrently to ensure economy and efficiency”, the council explained.

The LEP has approved the “re-profiled” budget including the increase for the St Owen Street work, the council said, adding that the changes in individual measures’ funding “does not change the overall project budget of £6 million”.