Ross residents can still have a say in shaping the town’s future despite missing a consultation deadline.
Their views, submitted via questionnaire as part of the county-wide Shaping Our Place consultation, will still be taken into account.
The cut-off point for the eight-week consultation was this Friday, March 12.
But any completed questionnaires which arrive at Herefordshire Council this week will still be valid.
Ross has direct links to the motorway network and is an important gateway for inward investment and tourism.
The council wants to boost enterprise and build new communities in Ross to ensure it is strong enough to safeguard public services, jobs and affordable homes.
Around 1,000 new homes could be provided in Ross over the next 15 years and two options are suggested, in the northeast and/or south of the town, next to the A40.
The new model farm business park at Ross is also set to attract high quality knowledge-based and creative industries and high-tech businesses, bringing exciting new employment prospects.
Several villages in the area could see development designed to increase affordable housing and sustain essential services, including schools, and new shops, along with rural transport improvements.
The options are also to promote extended employment land and more enterprise centres to encourage the creation of new jobs, particularly creative industries and environmental technologies to boost the economic viability of villages.
Environment cabinet member John Jarvis said: “It really is up to people to tell us what they think and help grow the right future for the county and the market towns.”
He added: “We don’t want to deny anyone their contribution if it arrives just after the deadline, so any questionnaires arriving until the end of this week (March 19), will still count.”
The Shaping Our Place 2026 consultation documents have been showcased at a road show and at public events and meetings in Ross.
To get involved: pick up a consultation paper and questionnaire from a council information centre; log onto the council’s website – www.herefordshire.gov.uk – and complete a questionnaire online; fill in a simplified version of the questionnaire in the council’s Herefordshire Matters publication and return it via freepost.
Herefordshire council’s cabinet will review the findings later this year before submitting proposals to the Secretary of State for a public examination and inspector’s report.
Final adoption is anticipated next year.