Dear Editor,

I wish to thank you for the prominence given to the Ross Neighbourhood Plan in last week’s Ross Gazette.

The article deals well with some of the complex technical aspects of the Plan relating to housing site allocations and the paper is to be congratulated on that. However, by emphasising the historical background in the report, it comes across as critical of Herefordshire Council’s officers, whereas my report, and the update to it presented verbally in the meeting, I hope made it clear that they have generally been most helpful in recent months.

The delays with policy resolution relating to any replacement of Ashfield Park School (described as “a 50-year old temporary building” not an ‘old building’) have largely been due to staffing issues within Herefordshire Council, and some departments (notably Balfour Beatty Living Places) seem simply not to be resourced to provide answers in a way that enables parish councils to avoid wasting some work when producing Neighbourhood Plans.

These things are frustrating, but we have been able, with the support of Herefordshire Council’s officers, Ross Town Council members and staff, and our professional guides to develop a strategy that will keep costs minimised while enabling delivery of a Plan that is robust enough to ensure that most of the required development goes ahead in a way that represents the consensus wishes of the locality.

For that reason the headline “Hold ups continue with Neighbourhood Plan” in the present tense was a tad pessimistic; it may have been more realistic to have said “Council backs completion of Neighbourhood Plan”.

With my thanks again for tackling an important but complex topic, I trust that this clarification sets at rest the minds of Ross Gazette readers; we are making all haste to have an early public consultation on the draft Plan.

Melvin Reynolds

Chair, Ross-on-Wye Town Council’s Neighbourhood Plan Sub Committee

Editor’s note: The Ross Gazette stands by the article published in last week’s newspaper as fair and accurate.