It’s Our County have called for a public inquiry to decide whether the £25 million Southern link road to help traffic congestion in Hereford can be built.

Councillor Anthony Powers told the Ross Gazette:?“A public inquiry is the right and proper way to deal with this. It is way too big for the council’s planning committee. Herefordshire Council is the applicant and has vested interests as a landowner. It’s not right for the council to give itself planning permission, so we’ve asked the Secretary of State to ‘call in’ the application.”

A meeting to decide whether the road, set to run from the A49 near Rotherwas to the A465, can go ahead was due to be held by the Herefordshire Planning Committee next week but this has been cancelled to allow further discussions to take place with Historic England.

Councillor Powers said: "We want a professional planning inspector to hear and test all the evidence, from all sides, and come to an objective decision.That’s how the City Link Road application [running from Aylestone Hill to Edgar Street in Hereford] was dealt with, and that’s what should happen now."

It is currently unknown when the Planning Committee will hear the application but it is unlikely to be held before Christmas.

The planned road is part of a package of measures proposed to address congestion and delays in South Wye while easing access to the Hereford Enterprise Zone at Rotherwas.