I'm not sure which day this happened but there was a police presence outside the Co-Op this morning with a CSO stood outside most of the day so I'm assuming it was related to the following story. 

Three students from the blind College were confronted and one was allegedly attacked after trying to cross the road in Kingsway.
Constant parking of vehicles outside the Co-Op on 'no parking at any time' yellow lines on both sides of the road is becoming a major safety issue as it is a direct route to and from town for many students.

On this occasion one of the students white stick hit a parked car outside the Co-Op which led to the occupant of the car getting out and verbally abusing the students and allegedly physically attacking one.
More on this story when I get it.
 

Capital investment recommendations to be considered by Full Council in July

Herefordshire Council’s Cabinet today (Thursday 28 June) recommended £12.827m for investment in local developments over the coming year. This is in addition to the £92.4m already identified in January for 2018/19. The recommendation will be considered by Full Council on 13 July 2018.

The funds have been identified following a review of the capital programme - the money the council expects to spend on key projects over the coming year/s. Of the additional £12.8m considered today for 2018/19, £6.7m is from increased grants and external funding.

Most notably, recommendation was given for the following additional investment:

£931,455 for pothole repair following the harsh winter weather (giving a total allocation of £1.253m in 2018/19)

£3.5m (£2m of which is a short-term loan) to support the development of a Cyber Security Centre by University of Wolverhampton to be based at Hereford Enterprise Zone, providing accommodation space for up to 20 cyber businesses, specialist research, training and educational facilities for businesses and organisations. The centre, which is due to be completed in 2020, would help the growth of a wide network of cyber-based businesses and institutions attracting national and international business investment.

£1.116m additional funding for Hereford Enterprise Zone ‘Shell Store’ refurbishment (£294k of which is from external contributions), to create a centre for research, start-up and scale-up engineering and technology businesses and, through the NMiTE University, provide space for students to interface with businesses.

In addition, £1.5m was recommended to support the conversion of Hillside rehabilitation centre to provide a nursing home facility for older people with complex mental health needs (such as dementia) in response to rising demand for this type of care. Work to look at the feasibility of converting Hillside for this purpose is in the very early stages, and so the funds identified are only indicative at this time.

Councillor Nigel Shaw, Cabinet Member for Finance and Corporate Services, said:

Quote

“Prior to any spending these investments will be required to provide a business case reviewed either by the whole Cabinet or Cabinet member as appropriate. This additional investment further demonstrates our commitment to the development of the county’s infrastructure, facilities and creating opportunities for jobs and growth, which will in turn contribute to an improved quality of life for Herefordshire’s residents.”

Cabinet agreed a number of measures to ensure the future sustainability of museum, library and archive services

Herefordshire Council has expressed its commitment to museums, libraries and archives as the cabinet committee today agreed a number of measures that includes developing a business case for investment in Hereford library and bringing new facilities for users, and funds to promote the Black and White House to boost visitor numbers and tourism along with measures to make the archive more available.

The recommendations also included starting a procurement process to see if there is a partner organisation who would run the services on behalf of the council including generating income and bringing in new people to use the centres. The councillors stressed this should only happen if there was a benefit and would not reduce quality of services, with a final decision only made when proposals have been fully evaluated.

Councillors at the meeting fully recognised the contribution of parish councils, volunteers and community groups in supporting the council with changes it has made including 6 out of 11 libraries now operating as community run libraries. There was also mention of the significant investment the council has made in these services in the last three years - something unusual amongst authorities facing financial challenges. These include a new library in Ledbury, new archive and record centre, refurbishment of the libraries and investment in the Black and White House museum.

Councillor Harry Bramer, Cabinet Member for contracts and assets said:

Quote

“We know these services are important to people and for a number of years we have been involved in a planned programme of change which has meant we have kept them open and operational in a challenging financial environment.

“We are now looking to take the next step to see if there are ways we can continue to make the most of the services and sites to have them used even more”.

Voice followers of a certain age will know that this one is in the BBC Archives as one of the best bloops of all time (it was actually a tongue-tied bystander, attempting to describe the mayhem after a motorway pile-up). He probably was searching for 'chaos and havoc' but his brain unscrambled the syllables.

Anyway, the train services yesterday between Bromsgrove and Hereford were choss and haverick, due to the warm weather, with unventilated relief coaches managing to convert the 1 hour train journey into a 5-hour nightmare. Failing Grayling has a lot to answer for.

The end of an era for Oswin & Co jewellers in Broad Street Hereford.

Oswins the jewellers has been in Broad Street for 130 years, one of the oldest established traders left in the city. Founded by William Henry Oswin in 1888, its ornate varnished shop front is certainly one of the last surviving examples of the many high-class retailers which existed in and around High Town, such as Greenlands and the furriers Augustus C Edwards. 

The beautiful iconic black gloss store which is a Hereford institute is closing down, but fear not! They are relocating to the former Jones bootmakers shop in Widemarsh Street and is due to open in July nevertheless, this will leave a void in Broad Street for sure.

What will become of this stunning building and Broad Street? 

The Green Dragon is in need of massive investment and is currently up for sale, the Sony shop is still empty, so is this street which is in the heart of Hereford part just going to be offices, banks and estate agents...

I have received the following information this afternoon in regard to Belmont Pools.

To The service delivery client team.

 

Please can you arrange for Belfour Beatty Living Places to erect appropriate warning signs around Belmont Pools. Please DO NOT allow dogs or children to enter the water  or swim, due to potentially toxic blue/green algae ( cyanobacteria) . As the pools are already part of their pos management area I believe this should be part of existing budget.

 

James Bisset

Parks and coutrside

Herefordshire Council.

 

I have already notified people living round the pools of this information, also a group of dog walkers, from Belmont and Newton Farm also the Angling Club has been advised this afternoon. This algae has only been found when I asked the environmental health to go to the pools, the algae has only just appeared on the pools surface, and the Parks and countryside officer has informed me today. Glenda

Someone has told me Asda are going to start charging for parking there. Surely this will make Belmont Avenue chaos even worse? When will they put double yellow lines in front of the new building. There is a near miss on that corner daily. Imagine turning right out of Belmont Court with cars parked outside the new building.. they don't follow the Highway Code regarding parking opposite T-junctions. A head-on waiting to happen at school-run times. The parents have no consideration, just want to get out as quickly as possible. Vehicles coming from Belmont Road have right of way, but are consistently made to run on the left pavement as the parents won't/can't give way.

Hotel Chocolat is due to open on High Town Hereford.

The store will be located in the former Vodafone shop in between WH Smith and Marks and Spencer's.

Quote

Company Overview

Angus Thirlwell and Peter Harris founded what was to become Hotel Chocolat in 1993, with a simple goal - to make a better type of chocolate available to UK consumers bored by the mediocrity of that available in supermarkets and on the high street. Originally a web and catalogue business, in 2004 the first of many Hotel Chocolat stores appeared on the UK high street. There are currently over 80 stores in the UK, 2 in Denmark and concessions in John Lewis stores nationwide as well as David Jones in Australia.

Authentic, wholesome ingredients are foundations of the company’s success - a position that is strengthened by its privately owned cocoa plantation, The Rabot Estate in St Lucia, where Hotel Chocolat grows its own fine flavour cocoa.

Duck Pond Day - Sunday 24th June 10-4pm.POSTPONED

We need volunteers! 

We will continue to paint the remainder of the metal fence, put up two new signs and generally clean up the surrounding area to include weeding and clearing over grown bushes etc.

Please bring garden tools and garden bags etc like last time.

We will try and arrange refreshments again, I am sure that Castle House Hereford will help out, they have always been excellent.

When I was drafting my submission to HC about the proposed Super Surgery, I took the trouble to consult one or two experts in the medical care field. I showed one of them the artist's impression of what is proposed for Station Approach. The response was: "This is simply hideous! Don't these people realise that an essential criterion of any sort of medical building - be it a giant hospital, a rural hospice or even a small dental surgey - is that it should be perceived as friendly and welcoming."

I am attaching an image of a building that, to my mind, is far more friendly. What's more, its roofline adds interest and is not a million miles away from that of the Royal Mail Sorting Office on the other side of the Link Road.

THE Lord Lieutenant of Herefordshire will unveil an arts project inspired by Trafalgar Square’s Fourth Plinth this Friday.

Hereford City Council has been co-ordinating the delivery of the project which will showcase the work of students and local artists.

The new community project which partners with Hereford Skate Park and the Hereford College of Arts hopes to promote art and culture and showcase the talent of local residents.

Lord Lieutenant for Herefordshire The Dowager Countess of Darnley will officially unveil the first sculpture, the Rotherwas Angel, at 4pm on June 22.

Brian Stephens, skate park trustee and founder, said:

Quote

 

“The skatepark is now regarded as one of the best in the UK and as well as attracting local users people visit the skatepark from all across the country.

“Among the skateboarding community there is a rich vein of extremely creative people, and the culture is well know for its art work, films and videos.

“The trustees wanted to give skateboarders an additional opportunity to exhibit three dimensional art work and this is now realised with the two plinths.

“In Trafalgar Square there is what is known as the ‘fourth plinth’ which displays a new sculpture on a regular basis. “The plinths at Hereford Skatepark are Hereford City’s own version of this.”

 

The plinths will catch the eye of people as they enter and exit the City on the A49. Information about the artists and the sculpture will be found in the gallery in the Boom Box on the skate Park.

The first sculpture created by students from the Art College is based on a brief relating to the Home Front.

Hereford College of Arts course leader Darren Williams said the project is an exceptional opportunity for the students involved to challenge themselves.

He said:

Quote

“It has been rewarding to see the development of these students over the last few months and how they have grown in confidence when dealing with all the other stakeholders, such as the city council and skatepark itself.

“The work itself has been a response to a brief relating to the ‘Home Front’, in which they chose to recognise the efforts of the munitions factory workers at Rotherwas during the 20th Century.”

A lot of work has also be done behind the scenes by Councillor Paul Stevens (Widemarsh).

The Ship Inn site could look like this if the new proposed project is accepted.

Quote

As part of our on-going commitment to provide affordable housing, we are always exploring new sites and developments. We are currently considering the following schemes, but will not begin work until after a period of detailed feasibility studies and consultation.

 

Ship Inn

The Ship Inn has been closed for a number of years and has suffered from vandalism. We are looking to redevelop the site by creating around 35 new 1 & 2 bedroom apartments.

 

Other projects include:

 

Larkrise Housing, Much Birch

We are working with the local community to create a co-housing scheme to provide 10 affordable and 10 market sale properties, as well as playground facilities and improved local parking. A planning application for outline permission has now been submitted. If  you have any questions about this project or would like to register your interest in a property, please contact Avril Shaw: 01981 541089 avril.shaw56@gmail.com or Kim Read: 01432 383991 kread@hhl.org.uk

Larkrise is a group of local people establishing a co-housing initiative at Tump Lane in partnership with Herefordshire Housing.  Herefordshire Housing Ltd (HHL) is a charitable not-for-profit Registered Provider of affordable housing throughout Herefordshire.

 

Perrystone Lane, Tupsley

Proposed development of 17 affordable homes, outlined planning consent, compromising of flats, bungalows and houses. We anticipate this scheme to be on site by Spring 2016.

There will be a public consultation on Wednesday 26^th August 2015 at Hampton Park United Reform Church,Hampton Dene Rd, Hereford HR1 1UJ, from 3pm to 6pm, to exhibit and discuss our plans. Please come along if you wish.

Planning permission was refused for a Costa Coffee to be located on a Retail Park on Holmer Road Hereford with concerns over lack of parking.

Full details of decision below:

THE COUNTY OF HEREFORDSHIRE DISTRICT COUNCIL hereby gives notice in pursuance of the provisions of the above Acts that PLANNING PERMISSION has been REFUSED for the carrying out of the development described above for the following reasons:

1 The proposal would have insufficient parking and this would result in indiscriminate parking to the detriment of highway safety. In addition a lack of an allocated delivery vehicles unloading area would be likely to exacerbate this. The proposal is contrary to Herefordshire Local Plan – Core Strategy policies SS4 and MT1.

Informatives:

1 The Local Planning Authority has acted positively and proactively in determining this application by assessing the proposal against planning policy and any other material considerations and identifying matters of concern with the proposal and discussing those with the applicant both at pre-application stage and during the consideration of the application. However, the additional supporting information has not overcome these concerns and has been found that it is not possible to negotiate a satisfactory way forward and due to the harms which have been clearly identified within the reasons for the refusal, approval is not possible

 

We spoke with the staff at the Mexican food giant Chimichanga this evening following rumours on social media that they will be closing their restaurant at the Old Market Hereford in the New Year.

We are informed by staff that a burger restaurant may be opening in their place but as we have stated this is only a rumour and nothing has yet been confirmed.

Should the five heads of the LA…who are Alistair Neil,Stephen Vickers,Chris Baird,Geoff Hughes & Karen Wright face a totally independent scrutiny panel that is a panel made up of people who are not involved in the day to day running of the council?

as I believe they should. Because for me,these five hide in the shadows…never ever face true scrutiny…are puppet masters of our elected councillors? as I would say they are behind the true policy making?…conjuring up decisions,orchestrate plans,deciding what building developments go where,advise & coerce our councillors into rubber stamping what is in effect there own desires with little or no regard to true public opinion…As at the end of the day it is us,who's daily lives are affect by the outcome of their actions…which can last years if not decades in some cases?!

A pile of bikes have been seen under the old bridge possibly pulled out of the river.
Police have been informed by don't seem to be interested.
 

Tesco Express in Ledbury Road are selling Unleaded and super unleaded for £1.21.9 and diesel  and premium diesel at 1.25.9 until they run out.
Fuel tanks are being replaced over a three week period from Monday 11th June.

Fire gutted a park home this evening. Four fire appliances and two ambulances were on scene the fire was close to setting alight other park homes.