Please sign Our Petition to Cllr Barry Durkin in an attempt to persuade him to reconsider and increase the on street parking times. Some streets such as Castle Street are limited to just 30 mins! We need at least 2 hours and by signing this petition you agree and are offering your full support to our local independent traders here in Hereford.

Ice and Snow Take it Slow!

This is the main bus route into Belmont Abbotsmead Road taken at 12noon today.

This is the junction of Whitefriars Road

This is Sydwall Road leading into Glastonbury Close

This is Glastonbury Close, which is on a slope and as you can imagine it's like a sheet of glass.

I have also driven around the estate and it's the same story all over, including all the main bus routes.

The same in Dorchester Way, Waterfield Road and Brampton Road, Newton Farm.

The Christmas lights at the Old Market shopping centre have collapsed from the weight of the snow this morning.

Photo courtesy of Tracy Bowes

Meeting: General scrutiny committee

Meeting date: Monday 11 December 2017
Title of report: Public Accountable Body for NMiTE
Report by: Cabinet member finance, housing and ICT

Purpose and summary
To review proposals that the council act as the accountable body for the new Hereford University, NMiTE (new model in technology & engineering), during its establishment phase.

Accountable body status means that the council will be accountable for funding allocated to the new university project by central government. Accountability involves receiving funds from central government, ensuring those funds are allocated and spent in accordance with any funding conditions specified, and providing reports on that expenditure.
The council has been approached by NMiTE to provide this role and, if approved, would work to support independence as soon as practical.

Recommendation(s)
That:
(a) the committee determine any recommendations it wishes to make to the executive to consider when determining whether to act as accountable body for public funding to support establishment of a new university in Hereford.

(b) the chief finance officer be authorised, following consultation with the monitoring officer and cabinet member corporate strategy and budget, to enter into such legal documentation as are appropriate to protect the Council’s interests.

(extracts)

3. On 26 October the Department for Education (DfE) announced up to £15m funding over three years to support the establishment of the new university in Hereford, NMiTE (New Model in Technology & Engineering). In addition to this funding, NMiTE is due to receive further funding, £8m, through the Marches Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP). The recommendation is for the council to act as the accountable body for the DfE funding announced and a project accountable body role in support of the Marches LEP funding.

18. No council funds will be payable to NMiTE however the management of the flow of funds between the accountable body and NMiTE will require resourcing. The cost of resourcing these additional operational tasks is to be financed from a share of the grant allocation.

Risk management
23. The legal documentation will clarify the risks of entering this arrangement. Ultimately the Department for Education could require the Council to repay the grant funding that it has been received and which it will have paid to NMiTE. Whilst this obligation will also be passed down to NMiTE through the flow-down agreement, it is possible that NMiTE would not be able to make any required repayment, which would therefore leave the Council out of pocket. The risk of any claw-back can be managed/mitigated by ensuring compliance with the grant funding terms through the monitoring and reporting obligations that will be put in place.

24. In addition the council needs to be aware that if ineligible expenditure is incurred by NMiTE this would not be covered by the grant and could therefore cause a cashflow concern to NMiTE which may lead to a reputational risk.  

25. These risks will be identified and monitored within the corporate finance risk register.

26. The draft MoU has a right for the Council, the Department for Education and NMiTE to terminate on giving not less than three months’ notice. However, this document is not expressed to be legally binding and  appropriate rights of termination will need to be included in the legally binding funding agreements that will also be entered into

What could possibly go wrong with £23 million pounds under the council's management?

Supporting Local Independent Traders in Hereford

FREE PARKING

2 hours FREE parking in Castle Street and 3 hours FREE parking at Greyfriars or the Town Hall car parks with the new vouchers, you can also park for 2 hours FREE along Conningsby Street.

#hvshoplocal #herefordvoice 

Admittedly Hereford has been heavily 'marked down' by the bookies as an unlikely winner of the City of Culture 2021, the short list for which is due to be announced this month. Coventry is currently enjoying the shortest odds of the 11 competing conurbations. And is it any wonder they're favorites? They've pumped £250,000 into their bid submission. Hereford's paltry investment? 22K. Less than Council Leader Tony Johnson's take-home pay. And although the official government prize is only £3-million, current Culture City Hull estimates that incoming revenue from tourism will top 20 times that amount by the end of the year.

Breaking News | Old Market Gateway.

Herefordshire Council has today issued vouchers for free parking to encourage customers to visit independent businesses in Hereford this Christmas. The scheme is in partnership with the Hereford Business Improvement District (BID) team and aims to promote independent businesses during the busy Christmas period.

Just to say the rubbish is still there, but will soon be covered by the undergrowth again. Why won't they clean it up - two years now?

That split bag of rubbish has been outside the front door of The Town Hall for a few days ... Apparently it was still there this afternoon according to a comment on an article on the HT website ~ even tho the spokesperson for the Council said it should have been shifted by BB at 9 AM. If they can't deal with a bag of rubbish in town they are less likely to sort out rubbish strewn on the Great Western Way ...

Hereford Times

Good to see some nice new signs in Hereford.

These were Installed by Hereford Business Improvement District. (BID)

Congratulations goes to Bill Thomas for winning our online photo competition. 

The winning photograph will now be used as our main background for at least the next 12 months.

Bill also wins £50 Miller & Carter voucher.

Thank you to everyone who entered, the standard was very high and we look forward to introducing more competitions in 2018.

This is the beautiful winning photograph 

I have heard today that even for them the rates are too high and they are shutting up shop in high town.

This is a letter that I have sent to to our councillor today in the hope that I receive a response. I am sure that is also an issue in other areas, but when you are not even trying to join the que and waiting excessively, something needs to be done. As for the road surface saga - well its just a joke considering it’s a “new†development! I’ve driven on smoother farm tracks.

I am writing to you in the hope that you may be able to help resolve some issues we are having on Woodward Avenue (formally Broxash Drive)

Every weekday morning we have problems with traffic using the street as a rat run on to Belmont Road which is causing queues of traffic on our street and problems for residents not being able to manoeuvre vehicles on or off driveways. This morning the traffic was particularly bad on the street and vehicles were queuing up as far as the top of the road next to the children's playground and blocking every driveway. I came out of the house this morning with my 5 year old to take her to school in Madley and despite all the traffic seeing me getting in my car, not one car left me any room for me to pull off my driveway. When the traffic started moving I slowly started to pull of my driveway only for another car to then pull forward, blocking me again, and refusing to move for me to be able to come off my drive, despite me telling them I wanted to go in the opposite direction to them. When I was eventually given space to reverse off the drive I was unable to see down the road to see if anything was coming the other way as the vehicles were obscuring my view, I was lucky that there wasn't a car coming as there would have been no way I would have seen them, or them see me.

There are also problems with drivers speeding down the road, especially towards the earlier part of the morning before the majority of the traffic builds up on the street.

The road itself is an utter mess with major potholes all along the street and the extra traffic using the road is only going to make things worse, we have been told by the highways agency that despite this area being classed as a new development, there are no funds available to resurface this road.

Unfortunately I think at some point in the future if these issues are not addressed there will be an accident on the street, whether due to speeding vehicles, poor condition of the road, or queuing traffic obscuring residents view/access off or on driveways.
 

Last night (not for the first time) I was awoken at around 00:30 by what at first sounded like a midge or other small high-pitched buzzy insect.

As I lay in bed, vaguely swiping at the possible invader to my boudoir, it dawned on me that it was not actually inside at all, but outside.  As I say, not for the first time, we had an aerial visitor flying about for a prolonged period above the area whee I live (Yazor Road area)

This is the first time I have heard it during the night, but previously I have spent about 20 minutes standing in my back garden watching the drone as it flies around, hovering for a while, then flying off a bit more and repeating.

Has anybody on here noticed anything similar in the area that they live?

I'm not sure what the point could be at that time of night - he typed, desperately trying not to be paranoid...

The City Link Road opens in December. This short film will inform you how to use the road and surrounding streets.

Portfolio changes confirmed from 1 December 2017