Working together for Herefordshire’s countryside – Our 2025 thank you!

Thank you

First and foremost a very Big Thank You to all the volunteers and members who have helped CPRE Herefordshire in 2025. Without you we could not have been successful in all our work. 

In Citizen Science, Hedgerow Heroes, Dark Skies, our Plan Team and the Consultants who assist them, have all played our part in protecting and enhancing the Herefordshire Countryside and Landscape.

2025 Achievements

CPRE Herefordshire has a very small Trustee and Management team but we try to punch above our weight. We work with the Wye Catchment Partnership, the Nutrient Management Board, the Malvern Hills National Landscapes Joint Advisory Board, the Environment Agency plus many others to help influence environment and landscape improvement. We meet with MPs and Ministers to raise local issues. As part of a much wider alliance including land owners and farmers we have helped secure £150k for a Wye Catchment Plan and £1m for further investigation and data gathering to understand fully what actions can be most effective in returning the catchment to ecological and environmental good health.

Looking ahead to 2026

2026 is going to be a very busy year with many big projects and plans landing for debate and consideration by councils, regulators, NGOs and communities. There are a number of significant planning applications that need considerable scrutiny some of which we believe may go to appeal if objected by Herefordshire Council. We fully understand the need for additional housing but it needs to be of a style and location that benefits communities. Similarly, we support moves for greener energy but believe this movement must not be at the cost of giving up good farmland and our national policy for rooftop solar continues. CPRE nationally has been successful in getting roof top solar on all new housing but we still have work to do encouraging its use on industrial buildings and on carparks.

River Wye Citizen Science

We are very aware that some of our Citizen Scientists have been operating for 3 to 4 years and are suffering from fatigue. In the spring we plan on a relaunch of this programme by listing sites where we need new volunteers to carry on the good work. We will be organising some training dates and hope we can encourage a second wave of community volunteers to help. The data we and other members of the Wye Alliance gathers is used by the regulators and has influenced all the plans coming forward. Your work can be seen on Wye Viz on a larger scale or down to an individual sampling location.

CPRE Centenary

It is the Centenary of CPRE in 2026 and we will be announcing a year packed full of talks, events and fun days. For the first time there will be a CPRE garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show which will be seen by millions on the BBC. We are just in the planning stage for the Herefordshire Centenary event with details to be announced in the New Year. We hope this event will be available to schools and families and demonstrate how important the countryside is for health and well-being, and demonstrate our work in the community.

Written by Andrew McRobb, Director of CPRE Herefordshire

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