AS planning applications for retail outlets tumble across the UK, because of the Covid crisis, concerns are growing that the face of the High Street is changing, and Ledbury may not be exempt. Nationally, planning applications for new shops have fallen by one fifth recently, and a glance through recent Herefordshire Council planning applications shows that Ledbury town centre is following the downwards trend in this respect. “The various lockdowns have been catastrophic to the retail sector, causing developers to cut their retail development pipeline,” said Boodle Hatfield head of real estate Simon Williams, while speaking of the UK situation.
BOXING Day hunts will not go ahead in Herefordshire this year because of the coronavirus pandemic, groups across the region have confirmed. Herefordshire s towns are used to road closures on December 26 while local hunts meet in town centres, as has been tradition, but this year guidance from the Countryside Alliance has said they should not go ahead. The Golden Valley Hunt, which meets in Hay-on-Wye; Kington s Radnor and West Herefordshire, and Ledbury Hunt, all said their meets would not go ahead as usual this year. Hunts remain legal over the festive period providing a scent trail is used and they are Covid-secure, including completed risk assessments and social distancing measures being in place.
ONLOOKERS will not be allowed to watch the hounds and horses gather for the traditional Boxing Day hunts this year, because of Covid regulations and the need for social distancing. The Worcestershire Hunt and the Croome Hunt in Worcestershire, and also the Ledbury Hunt in Herefordshire, have all pulled the plug on their usual Boxing Day meets. Chloe Stiley, a spokeswoman for the Worcestershire Hunt, which traditionally has its Boxing Day meet in Droitwich, said: “Unfortunately, this can’t happen this year, but we hope to be there next year. We have to be safe.” She said of past Boxing Day meets: “We can get up to 2,000 people in lines along the High Street.”