Herefordshire council rejects 30- and 20-mph pleas

Decisions have been made on requests to cut speeds on six different stretches of Herefordshire roads – and all six are to be left as they are.

The six decisions taken by Herefordshire Council relate to:

Bartestree, assumed to be the main A438 Hereford-Ledbury road through the village, where a bid by the parish council to cut the speed from 40 to 30mph was rejected.

The B4352 through Blakemere, midway between Hereford and Hay-on-Wye, where the parish council had also sought a cut from 40 to 30mph.

Speeds through the hamlets of Elton and Pipe Aston in the north of the county near Ludlow will not now be cut from the national speed limit of 60mph to 30.

The C-road through the hamlet of Kinsham near the Welsh border at Presteigne will also remain at 40mph.

The C-road between the A49 and A4110 west of Moreton on Lugg will not be lowered from the national speed limit.

And a section of the B4234 through Walford south of Ross-on-Wye will also not be cut from 40 to 30mph as the parish had sought.

“Despite recent development, the overall roadside environment in Bartestree remains generally sparse,” the council said in its decision, adding that according to government guidance, this “is a significant factor in determining appropriate speed limits”.

Meanwhile for more minor roads such as at Moreton on Lugg, being single-track “naturally moderates vehicle speeds”, the council argued.

Two speed-limiting efforts by parish councils representing The Bage and Vowchurch were similarly knocked back earlier this year.

Maggie Brown, clerk of Wigmore group parish council which includes Elton and Pipe Aston, said parishes “have been sending these requests in for years” and that it appears the county has now “gone through its list and weeded out those that aren’t suitable”.

Herefordshire Council was asked to comment about the volume of such requests it has refused.

The council separately confirmed it “does not currently have any plans for the introduction of area-wide 20mph zones, and does not support this as a policy going forward”.

This was in an update to a motion passed by councillors under the previous county administration in 2020 urging the officials to consider bringing in such area-wide limits “across Herefordshire’s towns and major villages”.

But the council now says that its “highest concern remains on high-speed rural roads where we have the highest incidence of casualties”.