Plans to create an “urban village” and wetland park in an undeveloped and flood-prone part of Hereford are still on track – despite a lack of progress on the ground.

Herefordshire Council set out an ambitious vision for the city in a draft masterplan published in spring last year, including for what it called the Station Quarter north of the city centre, between the railway station and Hereford FC’s Edgar Street ground.

The vision for the Station Quarter in the draft masterplan for Hereford, published last yearThe vision for the Station Quarter in the draft masterplan for Hereford, published last year (Image: Herefordshire Council) “Redeveloping this quarter in phases would provide a valuable opportunity to help meet Hereford’s housing need within a sustainable urban neighbourhood,” it said.

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Alongside this, on the former Essex Arms site by the new City Link Road to the east, was to be a new “destination” urban wetland, to serve as “an informal, green, active travel route through to the urban village from the station”.

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This would also provide “a thoughtful response to significant flood risk in this part of the city”, the masterplan said.

The procession to the Hereford wetland siteThe procession to the Hereford wetland site (Image: Herefordshire Wildlife Trust) A procession was held in the city on September 7, led by Herefordshire Wildlife Trust, with supporters marching from High Town to the proposed wetland site where they signed a pledge to “work together with urgency” on the plan.

Sounding upbeat on the idea, its chief executive Jamie Audsley said the trust was “a key partner” with the council in bringing the wetland forward, with new funding from the Environment Agency now enabling a preliminary hydrological analysis of the site.

Supporters signed a public pledge to back the wetland planSupporters signed a public pledge to back the wetland plan (Image: Herefordshire Wildlife Trust)

A spokesperson for the council said it is “looking to commission a masterplan to explore the potential to develop a mixed tenure multi-generational urban village” in the area.

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This would seek to “integrate housing, alleviate flooding and deliver a significantly enhanced local environment including the potential for open green space and a possible wetland”.

The council is meanwhile about to approve spending of a £2-million government grant, first awarded in 2021, to design and implement a flood alleviation scheme for the adjacent Merton Meadow area, currently mostly car parking, in order to ready it for social and affordable housing.

Repeated floods in this area have long prevented the development of what would otherwise be a prime site for the city.