Herefordshire County Council has clashed with the Highways Agency in a row over delays to road improvements which it claimed were ‘a catalogue of bad planning and confusion’.
The council has criticised the agency over its handling of work on the A49 and the Belmont roundabout to improve access to a new Asda supermarket.
Delays meant the work overran by five months and the council was concerned that St Martin’s Street would not be fully open to traffic in time for the start of the annual Three Choirs Festival, which is being staged all this week at Hereford Cathedral.
Brian Wilcox, cabinet member for highways and transportation, said: ‘It’s been a catalogue of bad planning and confusion. We’ve never before experienced such contempt for the wishes of the local highway authority.’
Hereford MP Paul Keetch, said he was ‘astonished’ at the lack of communication between the agency and the council.
An HA spokeswoman said: ‘The council’s decision to grant planning permission gave the opportunity for a section 278-funded improvement. We have liaised with stakeholders throughout.’
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