MP welcomes £20m for transport in Hereford

Hereford’s Conservative MP Jesse Norman has welcomed the nearly £20 million the city will get from the Government’s Levelling Up Fund to improve transport.

The bid, one of three submitted to the fund by Herefordshire Council, will part-fund the new transport hub at Hereford railway station, as well as schemes promoting cycling and walking around the city.

Mr Norman, who since October has been a transport minister with responsibility for decarbonisation and technology, which includes promoting active travel, has supported the bid with fellow ministers.

“This is great news for the city and the county,” he said.

“Hereford railway station is a gem, but it needs to be a welcoming, fully accessible and interconnected gateway as well. This money means the transport hub project can at last get under way.”

More than 100 projects around the country will share over £2 billion from this latest round of the funding.

But many bids were unsuccessful, including in Herefordshire for public realm improvements in Leominster and Ledbury, and progressing a new enterprise zone in Ross-on-Wye which Mr Norman called “long overdue”.

“Given the level of competition for public investment across the country, we did well to get [the city transport] project funded,” Mr Norman said.

“But it is essential that we also push on with plans for rural areas. I will continue to work with the council and to press the government for investment in Ross-on-Wye as well.”