A man has died after falling from bridge along the Great Western Way Hereford.

Herefordshire Council has completed the lease of Edgar Street stadium to Hereford FC. The ten year lease will secure the club’s tenancy at the Edgar Street stadium until 2030, enabling the club to proceed with plans to return the ground to a four-sided stadium.

Left to right Ken Kinnersley and Council Harry Bramer

The wider area has undergone substantial redevelopment in the last four years, with the opening of the Old Market shopping development in 2014 and the construction of the City Link Road in 2017. The proposed ‘Urban Village’ project, part of the Hereford 2020 Edgar Street regeneration, could potentially mean joint investment from Herefordshire Council and Hereford FC for a new stand and facilities at the Blackfriars Street side of the stadium, with the opportunity for nearby retail outlets.

Councillor Harry Bramer, Herefordshire Council Cabinet Member for Contracts and Assets, said:

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“The security of the club’s tenancy until 2030 is a real boost for the club and for the fans. Herefordshire Council is looking forward to working with Hereford FC to build on this year’s league success by planning and investing in the stadium - potentially transforming the Edgar Street area and providing new opportunities for retailers.

“Hereford FC continues to make a great contribution to the city and the wider community. Many local traders benefit from increased trade on match days and the football club is an important employer and contributor to the local economy.”

Hereford FC Chairman Ken Kinnersley said:

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“The lease extension now means we have security until the summer of 2030, which will justify continued investment in the stadium by the club and, hopefully, set at ease any concerns about security being felt by any of our supporters.

“The directors believe the lease extension is a clear endorsement by Herefordshire Council of the commercial stimulation every match day at Edgar Street brings to the city centre and that officers feel that the club is being managed both effectively and efficiently as a business.”

“On behalf of Hereford FC, I would like to express sincere thanks to Herefordshire Council for their support and co-operation and the positive working relationship that has been built since the original lease was agreed back in 2015.”

DO NOT LEAVE YOUR DOG IN YOUR CAR!!

Now that the weather is getting hotter, we'd like to remind people not to leave dogs in cars, even 'just 5 minutes' can be fatal.

When the temperature is 20 degrees outside, in just 10 minutes the inside of a car can reach 27 degrees and can get to an unbearable 47 degrees within the hour.

Leaving the windows open and parking in the shade will not stop a dog overheating and it can take just a few minutes for a dog to die of heat stroke.

#Herefordvoice

http://www.herefordtimes.com/news/16170330.Top_council_boss_earns_more_than_the_Prime_Minister/

Lets stand up to this

Hereford Times has now recruited a Local Democracy Report his name is Carmelo Garcia.  Interesting times ahead perhaps!

The owner of the Maxii Mini Market in Commercial Road Hereford has been convicted of selling 4 counts of contraband cigarettes.

Sentenced to a 12 month community order and 120hrs unpaid work. Costs approx £1500

On a more positive theme there have been some encouraging discussions about new stores opening in Hereford.

Ragwert has informed us that the designer store Flannels is one of those shops due to open in the former H&M store in Commercial Street

photo courtesy of ilovenewcastleuk

Who else is opening in High Town Hereford?

Took a few of the poppy display

Commercial Street Hereford to undergo refurbishment in May.

The second phase of work to upgrade Hereford City Centre will begin in May 2018 with the refurbishment of Commercial Street, High Town.

Balfour Beatty Living Places on behalf of Herefordshire Council will carry out refurbishment works on the Commercial Street area of High Town from early May.

The work is the second phase of a refurbishment project for the city centre that will create a consistent look with the recent refurbishment of Widemarsh Street and High Street. Future phases will include an enhanced walking and cycling environment. 

Councillor Barry Durkin, cabinet member highways and transport said 

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“This project is key to the success of the city as a regional shopping destination, with longer term plans to improve Commercial Road and Blueschool Street, it will further enhance the city as an attractive and easily accessible destination for visitors and shoppers.

Hereford has never looked as positive and vibrant as it does today and we need to build on the successes of the last few years and continue to support existing retailers and continue to attract new traders to ensure Hereford is a regional shopping destination of choice.”

The work will be phased to ensure minimal disruption to businesses and shoppers. All access to frontages will be maintained. Work will continue through 2018 with a break for the busy Christmas shopping period. The Commercial Street phase of the scheme will be completed in early 2019.

Herefordshire roads badly affected by the recent severe weather will benefit from an additional £1.25m of central government funding for repairs.

This funding, which totals £1,252,647, will be used to repair more roads, addressing the equivalent of 23,000 potholes and build in protection to help make the county’s roads more resistant to future severe weather.

Councillor Barry Durkin, Herefordshire Council Cabinet Member for Transport and Regulatory Services, said:

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“This winter has seen exceptional weather in Herefordshire, and the prolonged freezing temperatures have had a detrimental impact on the county’s roads. We have seen an 84% increase in dangerous potholes and our teams have been working hard to remedy this problem.

“We welcome this additional central government funding which will be used to enhance our response to the challenges brought by the severe weather.”

https://content.historicengland.org.uk/content/docs/committees-panels/urban-panel-review-paper-hereford-oct17.pdf

Not sure if this has already been shown on HV but this report makes some interesting and thought provoking points 

New measures to curb dog fouling and prevent problems with out of control dogs across Herefordshire came into force on 27 March 2018.

The Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) for dog control, which has replaced the previous dog control orders, gives council enforcement officers and police officers powers to deal with dog owners who fail to properly control or clean up after their dogs in public open spaces.

Measures include offences requiring dog owners and walkers to:

• Clear up after their dog

• Keep their dog on a lead in some areas

• Put their dog on a lead when asked to

• Keep dogs out of some areas

People with assistance dogs are exempt from this PSPO.

Responses received during a consultation period last year show support for the rules contained in the order.

Councillor Durkin, Cabinet Member for Transport and Regulatory Services, said: 

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“The majority of dog owners are responsible and keep their dogs under control and clean up after them, this order will allow action to be taken against the minority who do not’’.

Herefordshire Council asks members of the public to report incidents of dog fouling via the link so that appropriate action can be taken.

Police want better powers to deal with beggars in Welsh city centre.

A public consultation has been launched on measures to tackle anti-social behaviour in Newport which could see a blanket ban on begging in its city centre. 

The city’s council is looking to update its Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) which was put in place in 2015 to prevent individuals and groups from committing anti-social behaviour in the city centre.

The order sought to prohibit street drinking, touting for services and donations, aggressive begging, fly-posting and dogs not being kept on a lead. A breach of the order could result in a fine of up to £1,000.

But now Newport council is considering a blanket ban on begging in the city centre after Gwent Police said the wording of the current order had proved “ineffective”. 

Speaking at Newport council’s overview and scrutiny committee hearing on Monday, Gwent Police’s Newport city centre inspector John Davies said: “In regards to aggressive begging, there has been an enormous amount of interest. If you look at the PSPO, it’s how do you legally state that someone is acting aggressively.

“We’re reverting back to legislation from the 1800s when dealing with begging rather than having something which is a workable solution. To prove aggressive begging is something that is difficult.”

He added: “There are several strands to the begging issue. We have genuine homeless people. In the last count in November we had 18 rough sleepers and that increases coming up to Christmas.

“But when you start looking at the number of people who are begging who have homes but are using begging as a source of income, there’s a difference.

“I would say there’s a 50/50 split, 50% will be genuinely homeless and the other 50% will have addresses known to us in Newport.

“We’re working with the council and the Rough Sleepers group to give assistance to the people who are most vulnerable. The ones who don’t want to engage with us are using begging as a source of income and the PSPO will allow us to deal with that.”

Full article 

This is a difficult subject but I am aware that are more and more professional beggars. We have recently just come back from a trip to Bristol we had for a few days and we were approached twice by quite aggressive beggars asking for us money. We do give to charities but personally, it is quite intimidating being approached in the street, especially, when we rarely carry cash anyway. One of these guys was sat more or less under the ATM outside a shop.

Plans have been submitted for proposed hair salon (A1 use) that will occupy 30% of the building withan education and training centre (D3 use) for students of hairdressing to take up the remainder of the premises in the former Möben shop in Commercial Street Hereford.

Planning application P174605/F

Hopefully if these plans are passed it will encourage other businesses back to this forgotten area of our city.

The only negative here is that the rates are higher than the rent! 

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TENURE

The premises are available on a new effectively full repairing and insuring lease at £25,000 per annum exclusive, on terms to be agreed. Alternatively the freehold interest is also available for £245,000 plus VAT.

RATES

We are verbally advised by the Local Rating Authority that the whole premises are assessed for rating purposes as follows:

Rateable Value: £53,000 UBR (2017/18): 47.9p Rates Payable: £25,387 

Free Parking 

The council’s Plough Lane car parks will be open to the public and free to park in on Saturday 31 March, 7 and 21 April, if you’re heading into the city centre to shop or watch the football. Postcode for the car park is HR4 0LE

We are in the process of changing hosts and upgrading the whole website.

You may see some big changes taking place on the website over the next few days and the website may actually go offline for a short period of time while the transfer takes place. This will not actually happen until Friday or Saturday but we just need to give you notice incase you think something is wrong.

If you cannot login, please find us on Facebook and Twitter until everything is up and running again.

Thank you 

I would like to welcome the Glass Tandoori Restaurant as one of our latest forum sponsors. 

If you have not visited this restaurant yet, as a regular visitor myself, I would definitely recommend them!

Old Hereford Pics Closes Website

We are very sad to learn that Old Hereford Pics website has now come to an end. 

We have contributed many times and enjoyed all the wonderful photographs over the past 10 years, so thank you Chris for all of your hard work, we know all too well how difficult and time consuming running a busy website is and we appreciate all your hard work. 

We would like to wish our good friend Chris Adcocks good luck for the future.

Here is the statement from Chris:

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"Well as people say, all things must come to a end. Its been nearly 10 years since I had the idea of finding and posting old Hereford pictures. I must say I've enjoyed it for the biggest part and it has taken a lot of hours out of mine and my family's time over the years. So its time to call it a day and let the other excellent pages now available to have their turn. I must thank everyone who has contributed over the years and I must say I have made some lovely friends along the way. It has taken a while to come to this decision and due to family commitments and not having the hours to keep it up, that's me done. The page will remain for people to view, but I would like to kindly ask that people please now use the other great pages out there to post in future. A very big thank you from me to everybody that has helped over the years.

Chris Adcocks"