Whilst Herefordshire Council’s bid for 19.9m to fund a package of transport and active travel measures was successful, the bid for the development of Ross Enterprise Park were not.

“Of course, we are disappointed,” added Cllr Hitchiner. “We had confidence in the strength of all three bids, but we recognise it is a competitive process, with authorities across the country vying for funding to improve their local areas. However, we remain committed to these other projects that are so vital to ensuring the ongoing strength of our local economy, and we will continue to explore the available funding options.”

Last year the Gazette reported on the council bid to seek £19m to develop a seven-hectare Ross Enterprise Park, with hopes of up to 1,250 new jobs.

The bid, which was designed to address an identified shortage of employment land in the area, also included cash to develop transport links to the rest of the town from the site.

A county council report said that—if successful—the £19m Ross bid would “provide opportunities to build on the county’s significant strengths in cyber-security, and to enable the county to benefit from increasing strengths in engineering and technology”.

It added: “The bid would pay for site clearance including of existing farm buildings; ground-works to create platforms for development plots; internal estate roads, cycleways and walkways; utilities and communication networks, and drainage; soft and hard landscaping and ecology enhancement including a buffer between the park and nearby houses.”

The proposed creation of the Hildersley based park at Model Farm could have been the biggest economic project in Ross since the building of the M50 if it goes ahead. There were doubts as far back as 2021 that it would ever see the light of day, with a council spokesperson saying at the time: “Following detailed design and tendering of the proposed development of Ross Enterprise Park, the identified costs were significantly higher than expected, and the project is no longer considered value for money.

“The council is currently working with the town councils, businesses and other local stakeholders in each of the market towns to develop an Economic Development Investment Plan to enable the growth of the towns in the future.”