Countryside looking west towards Clehonger in Herefordshire. Image: Jonathan Billinger/Geograph, CC BY-SA 2.0. A small strip of garden in rural Herefordshire has become an unexpected obstacle in the path of a £45 million road project, with grandmother Jean Harris refusing to sell land required for the first phase of the Hereford bypass and insisting that the council has not made a convincing case for spending local taxpayers’ money on the scheme. Harris, who lives between Clehonger and Belmont, says the northern end of her garden lies directly in the planned route, leaving officials facing the sort of land dispute that can complicate even the most advanced infrastructure project as the council works towards beginning construction by December.According to the exact BBC News report on Harris and the bypass, Harris believes the small section of her property is delaying the scheme and has refused to cooperate with attempts to acquire it. “This little bit is holding them back,” she told the BBC, pointing to the northern end of her garden. She also said a large oak at the end of the property, which she has been told is around 500 years old, would have to be removed under the current plans. The BBC report states that Herefordshire Council has declined to discuss individual land negotiations because they remain commercially confidential. 
Countryside looking west towards Clehonger in Herefordshire. Image: Jonathan Billinger/Geograph, CC BY-SA 2.0.
One garden has become part of a much larger land problemThe dispute comes as Herefordshire Council attempts to move the first phase of the bypass from planning into construction. According to the council’s official March 2026 project update, civil engineering company Graham has been appointed to lead detailed design and early technical work, with construction intended to begin by December 2026 and Phase One expected to be completed by the end of 2028. The planned 3. 6km single-carriageway road would link the A49/Ross Road-Rotherwas Access Road roundabout with the A465 Abergavenny Road, with a connection onwards to the B4349 Clehonger Road.The council argues that the road would create a direct connection between the A49 and A465, allowing traffic, including freight, to avoid congested routes through South Wye and improving access to the Hereford Enterprise Zone. Harris remains unconvinced. According to the BBC report, she has raised concerns about the proposed route’s impact on bats, owls and dormice and says the threatened oak tree is partly why she does not want to cooperate. She has also described herself as feeling “very vulnerable” following the death of her husband, Michael, two months earlier, saying she has not wanted the pressure surrounding the dispute. 
The B4349 on the approach to Clehonger, Herefordshire. Image: Jaggery/Geograph, CC BY-SA 2.0.
The council already has a compulsory purchase process in placeThe possibility of forcing the sale is not merely theoretical. According to Herefordshire Council’s exact December 2025 decision record for the Hereford Western Bypass Phase One Land Acquisition CPO, the cabinet approved a resolution to make a 2026 compulsory purchase order covering land interests and new rights required for the scheme that had not already been acquired. The same decision authorises officials to acquire relevant land either compulsorily or by agreement and to continue negotiations with people holding interests in affected property.The council’s decision record makes clear that voluntary negotiation remains its primary approach, but it also explains why the compulsory purchase route is being pursued in parallel. If agreements cannot be reached with every affected landowner within a reasonable timescale, the council says it could otherwise be unable to obtain the land needed to deliver the project, putting the bypass at risk. Compulsory acquisition is therefore intended for cases where required interests cannot be formally secured in time.For Harris, however, the dispute is less about the scale of the £45 million project than the particular piece of land at its edge. Her garden, the old oak, and concerns about wildlife have turned one property into a pressure point in a road scheme intended to reshape traffic around southern Hereford. Whether the council reaches an agreement with her or ultimately relies on its compulsory purchase powers, the confrontation shows how a bypass measured in kilometres can still be slowed by a strip of garden measured in metres.
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