WE WERE WRONG,
SAYS CIVIC SOCIETY
PAGE 27 • FESTIVE NEWS • DECEMBER 2017
Hereford Civic Society has finally admitted it was wrong to oppose the building of a
modern shopping centre on the site of the old livestock market, just a few minutes’
walk from the historic city centre.
In the society’s summer edition of its magazine
reporting on the ‘We’re Backing Herefordshire’
convention at which speakers applauded the
success of Old Market, the centrepiece of the
original ESG regeneration of the city project, it
states: ‘HCS admitted to the meeting that it had
been wrong to oppose the Old Market project as
clearly it has brought more footfall to the city.’
Commenting on a review of Herefordshire
Council’s future development plans the report
added: “It was good to feel that there really is
some real activity happening. With many
opportunities for inward investment this has to be
the county of the future.”
George Thomas, who was PR and media
consultant to the ESG scheme launched in 2004,
and which was met with fierce opposition, said:
“It is highly commendable that the Civic Society
should publicly declare its change of heart on
what was, after all a project that literally split the
city apart. It even spawned the political group,
‘It’s Our City’ which would become ‘It’s Our
County’ challenging the county council
Conservative administration.”
He added: “As guardians of the ‘built
environment’ the Civic Society have a key role to
play in examining and giving an opinion on those
developments which they feel might have a
negative impact. Independent scrutiny of such a
huge scale development as ESG was an essential
element of the public consultation process.
Thankfully, the project went ahead and has
transformed Hereford into a thriving shopping
destination with a great night time economy.
What matters now is that everyone pulls together
to ensure the future success of the city and county
that the Civic Society says they now envisage .”
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