The Conservative Party has lost overall control of Herefordshire Council.

The Tories won 13 seats in total, losing half the amount they previously held.

The feeling among many of the Conservative candidates was that the national picture, and in particular the handling of Brexit had badly affected their results.

Herefordshire Independent Group Leader Bob Matthews has said it is an "excellent result" that was "better than expected".

New Council make-up following results;

Independent: 18
Conservative: 13
It's Our County: 8
Green: 7
Lib Dems: 6

Well not for some it seems. Looking at the expenditure of Herefordshire Council for June 2018 and surprised they paid out £32,088,600.02

The following top 20 payments totaled £20,419,153.81

£6,900,000.00      Worcestershire County Council
£2,629,744.71      Balfour Beatty Living Places Ltd
£1,962,747.78      Balfour Beatty Living Places Ltd
£1,349,077.00      West Mercia Police & Crime Commissioner
£1,349,077.00      West Mercia Police & Crime Commissioner
£1,279,250.00      Hoople Ltd
£955,141.94        Worcestershire County Council
£953,819.45        Worcestershire County Council
£560,874.30        Hereford & Worc Fire & Rescue Service
£334,010.22        Fcc Environment Services (uk) Ltd
£327,465.66        Fcc Environment Services (uk) Ltd
£280,380.82        Integral UK Ltd
£268,452.87        Shaw Healthcare (Herefordshire) Ltd
£262,325.10        Shaw Healthcare (Herefordshire) Ltd
£259,793.10        Shaw Healthcare (Herefordshire) Ltd
£254,283.84        Integral UK Ltd
£246,355.01        Whitecross@Stepnell Ltd
£246,355.01        Whitecross@Stepnell Ltd

On a lighter note secret video footage taken in the finance department confirms dodgy goings on.

To approve the expenditure of up to £200k to undertake feasibility work for the Hereford Urban Village Masterplan

Decision Maker: Director of Economy and Place

Decision status: Recommendations Approved

Is Key decision?: No

Is subject to call in?: No

Decision:
Approve expenditure of up to £200k to undertake feasibility work for the Hereford Urban Village Masterplan, the work will be delivered through the Council Development and Regeneration Programme using its appointment Development Partner

Contact: Peter Clasby, Growth Programmes Technical Manager Email: Peter.Clasby@herefordshire.gov.uk Tel: 01432 261968.

Publication date: 29/04/2019

Date of decision: 29/04/2019

Accompanying Documents:

04/03/2019 - Strategic Acquisition of a Development Opportunity Site known as College Road Campus in Hereford ref: 5986    

Recommendations Approved

Find out more about this decision (item 13)
Decision Maker: Director of Economy and Place

Decision published: 30/04/2019

Effective from: 04/03/2019

Decision: The College Road campus (as shown in appendix 1 on the red line boundary map – Southern Campus Only) is purchased for a sum of £5.395m (five million, three hundred and ninety five thousand pounds).

The anticipated costs associated with the purchase are:

Land Purchase 5,395,000
Stamp Duty 259,250
Professional Fees 92,500

Lead officer: Sonya Morris

Accompanying Documents: Plenty of glossy graphics here.

About time a forum was opened for this.

It is fairly public now Jon Johnson for Wormside is not standing again.

I do not think David Harlow is standing either.

No wonder the government want to pursue surveillance and control of social media and the press - just a word in a dozen ears is all it would take to get their message across.

The UK media is dominated by a handful of corporations

Media Reform Coalition produced their first comprehensive report on media ownership in the UK back in 2015 when they argued concentrated ownership was a significant problem for any modern democracy. Four years later, they have produced an updated version that suggests that, not only does concentrated ownership persist but that the problem may be getting worse.

This report shows that just three companies (News UK, Daily Mail Group and Reach) dominate 83% of the national newspaper market (up from 71% in 2015). When online readers are included, just five companies (News UK, Daily Mail Group, Reach, Guardian and Telegraph) dominate nearly 80% of the market, slightly up from our last report. In the area of local news, just five companies (Gannett, Johnston Press, Trinity Mirror, Tindle and Archant) account for 80% of titles (back in 2015, six companies had the same share). Two companies have 46% of all commercial local analogue radio stations and two-thirds of all commercial digital stations.

The digital landscape is hardly less concentrated. Google dominates search while popular apps like Instagram and WhatsApp are owned by Facebook, itself the most popular social media site. New, digital-only news sites have emerged as a significant force since our last report but these are overshadowed by the continuing grip of legacy news and, especially, national newspaper titles.

The BBC remains a powerful presence in online and broadcasting but its budget has been massively cut by the last two licence fee deals and its room for manoeuvre has been limited by commercial competition and political pressure to be mindful of its impact on the wider commercial market.

They believe that concentration in news and information markets in particular has reached endemic levels in the UK and that we urgently need effective remedies. Concentrated ownership creates conditions in which wealthy individuals and organisations can amass vast political and economic power and distort the media landscape to suit their interests. Urgent action is needed in order both to address high levels of concentration in particular media markets and to protect against further concentration in others.

They hope that this report will provide data and arguments that will be useful to all those who want to campaign for a more pluralistic media in which a genuine diversity of views, voices and opinions are aired.

To see the full report, click here.

For the executive summary, click here.

For all the data sheets, click here.

Hereford Times is owned by Gannett. Generally there is no investigative journalism undertaken now and the worse for democracy.

Herefordshire’s highways network is set to benefit from an additional investment in road repairs.

The Department for Transport this week (12 November) announced an extra £43.5 million to tackle potholes and other road defects in the West Midlands – including £5,108,000 for Herefordshire.

There are over 2,000 miles of roads in Herefordshire, and more than 23,000 jobs were raised for carriageway repairs in the last financial year, with the council’s contractor Balfour Beatty Living Places carrying out repair works totalling £1.77 Million.

The money will allow HC, working in partnership with BBLP, to improve the condition of more than 50 B, C and U class roads in the county. A scheme of works is currently being planned.Councillor Barry Durkin, Herefordshire Council Cabinet Member for Transport and Regulatory Services, said:

Quote

“We are delighted with this additional investment from the Department for Transport, which will help us to ensure that Herefordshire continues to have the best highways network possible for our motorists, cyclists and pedestrians.

“Good roads are vital to ensure the continued growth and strengthening of Herefordshire’s economy, and tackling defects on our roads leads to improvements in journey time, quality and safety, for all road users. We also continue to improve the condition of our highways with planned maintenance, reducing the need for reactive repairs, which minimises disruption and leads to higher quality and better value throughout the full life of the roads.”

In response to a fivefold increase in defects reported on the county’s roads this year following the harsh winter, there have been more pothole crews working on the network, and the use of a spray injection repair machine has enabled higher volumes of potholes to be repaired quickly and effectively.

The announcement also comes shortly after Herefordshire Council, in partnership with Balfour Beatty Living Places, completed seven roadwork schemes along stretches of the A4103, A438 and A465 as part of the ‘Challenge Fund’. The works will bring benefits of over £146 million to Herefordshire’s economy by restoring 38.9 miles of key routes to good condition.

The new high-quality surfaces will improve road safety with the new road material designed to last for at least 30 years, reducing future costs and disruption in these areas.

The Challenge Fund works are part of an investment of more than £25m (in addition to the extra investment of £5,108,000) in the county’s road and public spaces in 2018/19. Further Challenge Fund works along different stretches of the A438 and A4103 will take place next year.

Herefordshire Council is also encouraging local people to make use of our easy-to-use online pothole reporting facility to highlight any that they are aware of. This will support the council’s own inspection team that examines all A roads monthly and all roads within the county at least once every year. All reported potholes are professionally inspected and repaired within agreed service times.

The car park on the former Rockfield DIY site will close at the end of the month in readiness for the start of construction of the new HCA & Uni accommodation in June.Work is also about to start around the same time on the new super surgery.

Councillors talk about transparency, but would you realise that Dave Greenow is a Conservative candidate for Hagley ward based on his letterhead which says ‘Independently minded’. Nowhere in his letter does he state he is a Conservative and there is a danger that some of the electorate will just see the “independently” word as an inference that he’s an Independent.

With Jonathan Lester being in the Hereford Times recently for using images which implied he was involved in certain projects, which was not the case, you would have thought they would have been more careful. Or perhaps they are having their hopes on people thinking they are Independent! Perhaps the Tories are embarrassed about being Tories now

I have just been alerted to this Facebook Topic, it names Conservative Cllr. David Greenhow as the suspect in this bizarre act of animal cruelty, which now appears to possibly be a criminal investigation, see what you think:

Beware if you walk your dogs around dinedor as last nite my son in law was playing in an empty field with his dogs just throwing a ball and he saw an old 4x4 heading towards his dog not realising what the person was doing the 4x4 headed for the dog and hit it the dog now has head injuries and a cut to the back leg this man is a local councillor and said it was worrying his sheep as I put earlier in this status the field was empty of sheep please any suggestions of what to do next to protect other people we have called the police and yes you guessed it we were issued with a crime number :0(

Update 25th October 2018: Debenhams has unveiled plans to axe up to 50 high street shops, putting around 4,000 jobs at risk, as profits plunged at the struggling department store chain.

I have just read this article about Debenhams chief executive considering closing 10 of their stores.

First of all, let us hope that this does not happen and that nobody looses their job but more importantly how does the Hereford store stack up against the other 176? 

Quote

Debenhams will consider closing up to 10 of its 176 stores under a review announced by its new chief executive, Sergio Bucher.

 

The department store chain, whose shares have fallen a third over the last year, said more investment is required to improve its mobile systems, supply chain and store estate.

 

It is consulting on the closure of the DHL-run Lodge Farm distribution centre in Northamptonshire, which employs 220 staff and would close in two years' time.

 

Ten smaller in-house warehouses could also close.

 

Debenhams said it hoped many staff could be redeployed.

 

The plans were revealed alongside half-year results showing a 6.4% fall in pre-tax profits to £87.8m, though UK like-for-like sales rose 0.5%.

 

Its shares were down 3% on the news.

 

Mr Bucher, a former Amazon executive who took over in October, said the overhaul would see the stores potentially closed over the next five years.

 

As part of his 'Fix the Basics' plan, around 2,000 staff will also be moved to customer-facing roles.

 

The group will also axe some in-house brands and quit some of its international markets.

 

Stores will be de-cluttered with a 10% reduction in stock options and stock will be replenished faster.

 

Mr Bucher said: "Our customers are changing the way they shop and we are changing too.

 

"Shopping with Debenhams should be effortless, reliable and fun, whichever channel our customers use.

 

"We will be a destination for 'social shopping' with mobile the unifying platform for interacting with our customers."

 

The department store said its online performance during the half-year had been driven by a 64% increase in mobile orders.

 

Mr Bucher added: "If we deliver differentiated and distinctive brands, services and experiences both online and in stores, our customers will visit us more frequently.

 

"And, having simplified our operations to make us more efficient, we will be able to serve them better and make better use of our resources."

 

Debenhams, the country's second-largest department store group, employs 19,000 people in its stores

 

Update from the Oval Regeneration:- Planning Application

 

Herefordshire Planning Committe approved this today and also the Community Hub in outlying permission.

 

One issue is OPEN SPACE and we are going to work with Herefordshire Housing to secure some public space, this maybe another plot of land close by. More to follow as this is developed.

 

I will post an update when the work is to start on site.

 

Goodnight Joe Grundy you were always a good one.  Sleep tight.

For those not in the know he was a main character in The Archers!

Hereford's H. Samuel store to close

By Charlotte Moreau, Ledbury Reporter

The jewellery retailer is set to close this summer.

THE number of empty units in High Town is set to increase with the loss of another big name shop.

Jewellery chain H. Samuel have today confirmed that the company will not be renewing the lease on their long-established Hereford store.

A familiar feature in Hereford's High Town, the store will permanently close its doors when its lease comes to an end this summer.

An H. Samuel spokesperson said: "The H. Samuel store at 22 and 23 High Town, Hereford will close on June 22.

"We continually re-assess our portfolio of stores on a store by store basis, particularly when individual store leases come up for renewal.

"We are sorry to be leaving Hereford, however we do have a wide online offering."

The company was keen to assure shoppers that the Hereford closure is an isolated one which bears no reflection on the future plans of parent company Signet's business estate overall within the UK but declined to comment further.

The company, which was established in Liverpool in 1862, was acquired by the Signet Group, which also owns the Ernest Jones and Leslie Davis jewellery chains.

H. Samuel currently has around 300 stores across the country and employs around 17,000 staff.

Belmont Avenue was closed off about half an hour ago after the junction with Belmont Court. There were several police vehicles parked on Belmont Avenue. They were turning back anyone wishing to drive further than Belmont Court.

Breaking News: Hostage Situation.

We have received 'unconfirmed' reports that a man is holding a male and a female hostage at a property in Poole Close.

Armed police are at the scene and this has been an ongoing situation since about 3am.

There is also now a fire appliance and crew on site.

Police and Balfour Beatty have cordoned off Belmont Road (A465) between Walnut Tree Avenue and Asda and motorists are being diverted to the Ross Road (A49)

There is no risk to the wider public. Police have advised the public to avoid the area.

Police Statement:

Quote

"We were called at 3.21am this morning following concerns for a man's welfare. Specialist officers are on scene but there's no risk to the wider public at this time and the incident is contained to a single property. Please avoid the area where possible."

If the PM IS GRANTED A EXTENSION to leaving the EU then the UK will more than likely have to take part in EU elections...but I would urge folks in the UK not to take part in but rather boycotting with the setting up of picket lines to peaceful encourage people not to take part in them so as not to give them legitimacy so as to send a clear message to our corrupt politicians & the EU itself that we have had enough of there shenanigans in trying to keep us in the unholy union which is contrary to the referendum vote in 2016

But the big question is would people actually take part or just act like sheep in excepting their fate?