THERE was no giving way when two views of Hereford's future clashed at a cabinet meeting over how to keep the county moving.

Councillor Gerald Dawe slammed the council's highway management plan as a "deeply flawed document" for signposting a proposed new river crossing for Hereford.

Council leader Councillor Roger Phillips hit back, saying Coun Dawe should take his case against the river crossing to the business community and test the response.

Coun Dawe wanted more alternative transport initiatives in the plan. The likes of walking and cycling barely got a look in, he said.

New roads, said Coun Dawe, were not a valid way ahead and a new plan could be drawn up without them.

Coun Phillips said sustainable development was not the only solution to the city's transport troubles.

Councillor Brian Wilcox, cabinet member for transport, played peacemaker to say that the plan explored options for all modes of transport and how they could work together. Members voted to back the plan.

Last month, the Hereford Times revealed that the council was ready to go it alone to get a new river crossing road for Hereford built within the next four years without relying on government money.

Last week, the paper reported how the highway management plan could clear congestion that was "choking the life out of the county" with a hi-tech scheme to control and co-ordinate all traffic movements.

Cabinet heard that many main local roads were operating above and beyond what they were built to take, especially at peak times.