Priorities for Reflection

New developments must be accompanied with full infrastructure support to accommodate social, economic and environmental needs.
All new housing, offices, factories, and agricultural buildings should be designed and built to incorporate south facing roofs made entirely of a solar photovoltaic structure.
Install ULEV charging stations as part of any development process.
More emphasis should be placed on mixed use such as co-housing schemes, single person units, and shared facilities in the design of new build domestic dwellings.
All habitable buildings should use the highest rated insulation for the building type.
All new builds must be accompanied by tree based landscaping and water catchment and reuse systems where possible; protected floodplains and grade 1 agricultural land.

Support, promote and encourage mixed agriculture and environmentally sustainable farming practices and help to restore soil structure and fertility.
Minimise the use of harmful chemicals in pesticides and fertilisers and invest in organic composting and agroecology.
Immediately stop new intensive livestock development: those already constructed must be fitted with extraction fan filters.
Farms and camping site companies must prevent effluent seeping into nearby watercourses.
Investigate robotic technology for use in sowing and harvesting of crops.
Allocate hedgerows and other land for wildlife corridors.
Install renewable energy systems where possible to integrate with traditional farming practices.
Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) should work with farmers to move towards agroecology farming practices.
Protect the soil, grow more trees and plants such as comfrey and use natural composted material instead of too much chemical based fertilisers.
Rewilding land, field edges, paths, and other areas where the ground is left for plants to grow and die undisturbed for whole seasons.
Grow insect attracting plants on the edge of fields, down pathways and bridleways.

Undertake a strategic review of how transport should be developed over the next 50 years in Herefordshire, including road, train, bus, cycle and walking tracks, and their interconnections.
Make an informed decision on whether a bypass is the best option, in the meantime put the construction of the western bypass and southern link road on hold and bring the existing road network up to an acceptable standard.
Design and build cycle and walking paths in Hereford and all main towns in the county, which link to surrounding areas of the county where it is feasible, such as along old railway tracks.
Pupils, parents, students, and teachers must be facilitated in safely walking and cycling wherever possible from their homes to education institutions.
Investigate the potential for an electric light bus service with dedicated lanes in Hereford City and the expansion of the service into rural areas.
Install ULEV charging points in all petrol stations and public places in Herefordshire.
Look towards new ways of rural passenger transit systems based on shared just in time automated electric vehicles

Tourism is as important to Herefordshire as agriculture. Encourage low impact tourism and be strategic in linking accommodation, eateries, historic sites, visitor centres, outdoor pursuits, and evening entertainments in ways to minimise waste and pollution.
Provide roadside picnic seating and eco-bins, toilets and other public facilities and install public free water faucets in Hereford, small towns and in tourist locations.
See tourism as a major way to buy local and support the local economy.
Invest in heritage sites and encourage tourists to ‘park and enjoy’ rather than drive and make Hereford and all main town ‘walking and cycling’ towns and cities.

The New Model in Technology and Engineering University (NMiTE) should be supported by the Council, the farming sector and businesses to undertake Action Research and Learning focusing on some of the key environmental issues facing Herefordshire.
Collaborate and cooperate to organise and support pop up public workshops and talks on all things environmental and eco-action, and in appropriate construction technology and design, all within the framework of regenerative environmentalism.
Emphasis must be placed on supporting primary, secondary and tertiary education in the county to engage with climate change issues; and also support ways to cut emissions and waste and increase reuse and recycling.
Offer evening workshops for climate education and engage with the private sector to support this work.