21/11/2025
I'm furious with Herefordshire Council right now.
Some of you will remember the media coverage back in July when Council backed my motion to get Herefordshire in the running for advanced manufacturing and modern defence investment. The administration was asked to prepare a prospectus and send a formal letter to Ministers.
Since then I've chased and chased and four months later we find out the letter was never sent and the prospectus is still stuck in draft.
And this week the Government has announced the first areas for its new “factories of the future”. Thirteen places chosen with over a Billion pounds of investment in the pipeline. Our neighbours in Monmouthshire, Shropshire and Worcestershire all included. Herefordshire isn’t even on the list ... we didn't even give ourselves a fighting chance. I honestly cannot articulate my frustration!
This is exactly what we warned would happen. When you fail to act, you get left behind. Residents lose out on skilled jobs, apprenticeships and long-term investment because this administration couldn’t deliver the most basic actions ... it's just not good enough.
They Conservative administration keep talking about 2026 being their big “Year of Delivery”. On the evidence so far, 2025 has been their year of total non-delivery.
If the administration won’t fight for Herefordshire, I will. Our county deserves far better than missed chances and slow motion leadership.
