CIDER apple conservationists are calling on the county council to revisit plans which would see the proposed Hereford bypass rip through the middle of an important heritage orchard.

Herefordshire Council bosses chose the proposed route earlier this year which would go through one of the two Pippin Trust orchards in Breinton. It would also nip the corner of the other, if current plans remain as they are.

The orchards contain a total of 142 varieties and were set up by Gillian Bulmer to preserve a wide range of rare species of cider apple trees.

She said the first the trust heard about the proposed road was in an article in the Hereford Times two years ago and they would not have planted the trees there if they had known of the road plans.

“The council just doesn’t care about what’s anywhere. It rather saddens me,” she said.

“When I saw the original routes, I was frightened from the very word go.

“It was a hell of a lot of hard work to plant the orchard. The trees had to be grown, we had to dig the holes and plant them and we didn’t know anything about this bypass.

“I would like the council to not put the road across our orchard.

“And if they are going to put it across it, they would have to produce enough money to buy land of the right quality which is grade I and II, in the right area and of the right soil to plant another one.

“We don’t know if the trees would survive anyway.”

Ms Bulmer explained that many of the varieties planted there were taken from the Adam’s Hill orchard which was first propagated in the 1930s.

A Herefordshire Council spokesperson said the potential for a bypass has been in the public domain for a number of years.

She said: “The Local Plan Core Strategy 2011-2031 was adopted by Herefordshire Council in 2015 and this includes the relief road corridor in which the adopted preferred route for the bypass is located.

“Following the adoption of the preferred route by cabinet in July, we are working to develop the detailed design of that route.

“We have had discussions with the Pippin Trust, as well as other stakeholders in the vicinity of the preferred route, seeking to mitigate wherever possible the impact of the proposed bypass.

“These discussions will continue as we develop the design and we will also further consult on the developed proposals in late 2018 and early 2019.”