I came out of my house yesterday at 5am to go to work and saw water cascading from the pavement next to the stores on the corner of Kilpeck Road. The day before, Welsh Water had alerted us earlier that evening, through an automated telephone call, that we would be experiencing discoloured water. 35 hours later the water is still running. Anyone know what is going on as there is no statement on the WA website? The loss of water must be fantastic and wasteful.

The council used to publish its expenditure figures for each month very promptly. However the council have since made a decision to publish its expenditure figures only every three months for the periods ending June, September, December and March. This seems at variance with the government's Local Spending Data guidance which states that:
 

Data should be published monthly, as soon as possible after month end but no later than 30 days after month end.

Authorities may wish to publish the data for longer reporting periods e.g. quarterly, year to date, etc. There is no reason why they should not do this, but this should be in addition to the individual monthly files.

The council's delay in publishing their expenditure figures promptly would appear to delay and prevent the public and councillors from seeing the ongoing state of their council's expenditure as in the case of the Blueschool House and Link Road fiascos. Maybe it would be better to go back to the old system, which this council practiced quite easily over the past years, and these problems would be picked up much earlier.

Minutes of the meeting held on Thursday 14th June 2016 at Northolme Community Centre, Northolme Road, Belmont Hereford.

Marks & Spencer poised to announce more store closures
 

Extracts - The Guardian 4th November 2017

 

Falling profits and increasingly tough high street trading fuels expectations of a much bolder restructuring plan from M&S

Marks & Spencer is expected to ramp up its store-closure plan next week as a result of falling profits and tough trading conditions on the high street.

Last year M&S announced it would close 30 stores as part of an overhaul designed to slash by 10% the amount of shopfloor space devoted to its struggling clothing arm. But industry sources suggest M&S’s chief executive, Steve Rowe, has been working on a bolder restructuring plan with the new chairman, Archie Norman, before its first-half trading update on Wednesday.

Rowe, who took over the top job last year, is seeking to revive the fortunes of the 133-year-old retailer whose profits have gone backwards in recent years. Analysts expect pretax profits to have fallen by more than 10% to £201m in the six months to the end of September and have been calling for the retailer to undertake a more drastic closure programme as clothing sales shift online. The retailer made a full-year profit of more than £1bn in 2008.

Last November, when Rowe set out a five-year turnaround plan for the business, he said 30 of M&S’s more than 300 “full-line†stores – which sell clothing, homewares and food – would close down. A further 45 would be downsized or converted into food-only stores. Analysts suggested some of these targets could now be revised.

If M&S does decide to close more stores it will deal a blow to the towns involved, where the retailer is often the main destination store, especially following the demise of BHS. But with more purchases made online, stores in smaller or less attractive town centres and shopping centres are finding life difficult especially amid rising costs for retailers.

Let's hope Hereford is not on any lists

McCarthy & Stone Retirement Lifestyles Ltd have submitted plans to build 54 retirement apartments on the site of the former bus depot in Friar St Hereford.

Demolition of existing buildings and erection of 54 units of retirement living accommodation (category ll type accommodation), with communal facilities car parking and landscaping

Application P173773/F

Make your 5th of November a night to remember and follow the steps above to stay safe.

They've got these robots. They're described as having A1 intelligence. They reckon, near as damn it, they're nigh on human. The market that the manufacturers are targetting at the moment is directed toward the males of our species who would like a female robotic companion who'll share their bed and be readily available to engage in acts of love.

Sounds alright doesn't it! Well it bloody isn't. These robots are super intelligent and the problem is that if you take your AI robot to bed and start fiddling around beneath the duvet this bloody robot that you've lovingly ordered, selecting its hair colour, it's vital statistics and all the other physical attributes that make the females of our species so beautiful and attractive toward the men, they could turn nasty on you.

God knows if these robots are going to be programmed not to attack their owner with a four pound lump hammer but what happens if your robot doesn't appreciate you and your clumsy attempts to engage in acts of manly love. This bloody robot could quite easily get out of bed, hurtle downstairs and call the Constable.

Then what happens! You get nicked. That's what happens. And while your locked up awaiting an appearance before the Magistrate, this saucy filly of a robot with A1 intelligence is in your house doing whatever it likes with your belongings.

I ain't buying one. No good will come of it!

Together with the United States of America, Britain was once the land of hope and dreams and a place where you could excercise your right of freedom of speech and say exactly what was on your mind without fear of prosecution. Indeed, whatever it once was that you wanted to say, no matter how tasteless or insensitive it was, as a British citizen you were allowed to say it and the State and its citizens would defend your right to say it because we were free.

Now it's gone. The United States stands alone as the only place on Earth where there is true Freedom of Speech and Britain has now joined the ranks of all the other countries who want to control the thinking of their citizens and stop everyone from saying something that could offend another.

Today in the Hereford Times it reports the conviction of a young lady who posted something on Facebook which was mocking and offensive toward some minority groups. Despite the young woman deleting it quickly from her FB page it was brought to the attention of the West Mercia Police and in partnership with the Crown Prosecution Service the young lady was prosecuted resulting in a 'guilty' plea and a criminal conviction that'll impact upon her for the rest of her life.

I couldn't care less about the content of her now notorious FB post. Chances are I wouldn't have liked or agreed with it but that really isn't the point. The point is the State have intervened, they've clearly used this young lady as a vehicle to promote their agenda and their interpretation of multicultural Britsh ideology and they've used their power and their privileged position to smash her into tiny pieces so as to send a message to all Hereford social media users that you shouldn't say, think or transmit anything that goes against the so called shared values of our so called modern Britain.

In this place, Hereford Voice, many things have been written that I completely disagree with but just because I personally consider those views as abhorrent to my way of seeing the outside world it shouldn't be that I, you, or someone else should be prosecuted just because 'someone' took offence to a transmitted opinion or their opinion is very different to yours.

If just one British citizen can be permitted to spout hatred in the name of their chosen religion and their ideology is defended and protected by the State and our Police, then why can't we protect the rights and the freedom of expression of those who take to social media and transmit something that makes some a little or a lot offended?

Quite simply, from an original position of a noble cause where the State wants to create the perfect happy tolerant society that prevents anyone becoming offended by anyone and anything we've managed to haul a silly young woman before a Hereford Court and thus limited her future prospects of ever getting the job she wants. Where's the justice in that?

Why, when someone, perhaps stupidly makes a silly quip about a pork product or something else that could be interpreted in a negative way, should the State and the Police become involved to further dilute one of our freedoms. The freedom to say what you think even if it could cause someone to take offence!

The conviction of this young silly woman who posted a poem that she found online is something that everyone should be alarmed with and sadly, its just the beginning of the State intervention into your daily online chat about this, that and the other.

Cycle Lengthsman Pilot Scheme

 

Hereford Council secured funding from the Department for Transport to deliver a three year programme of initiatives to increase walking and cycling in the County.

 

As part of the programme, the Council has contracted Pedicargo to deliver a 12 week pilot scheme working as a lengthsman on parts of the traffic-free network in Hereford

 

The aim is to improve the traffic-free network for walkers and cyclists by keeping the routes clear of vegetation, litter, cleaning signage and lots more . . .

 

The pilot will run from September to December 2017 and will help shape the Lengthman project for the following two years.

 

 

Email: move@herefordshire.gov.uk

Spoke to them today working on the verges of the cycleway opposite ALDI. Doing an excellent job tidying up the route. Any suggestions or particular issues email them at above. I mentioned the build up of compressed leaves on the bends under the railway bridge at Barton Road. It's turning into a skid pan.

I am posting from my mobile and we are currently sat in Costa Coffee, can anyone please tell us where the nearest cash point is because we cannot see one?

Election of Councillors for the Kings Acre Ward

DECLARATION OF RESULT OF POLL

Date of Election : Thursday, 26th October 2017

I, Colette Maund, being the Deputy Returning Officer at the above election, DO HEREBY GIVE NOTICE that the number of votes recorded for each candidate at the said election is as follows:

Name of Candidates                Description                                      Votes Recorded (E = Elected)
Anderson, Stuart Paul                Conservative and Unionist Party        302 (E)
Bushkes, Matthew                      It's Our County (Herefordshire)          156
Fenton, Clare Jane                    Independent                                       162
Hurds, Lucy                               Liberal Democrats                                90
Lewer, David Philip Sharland    The Labour Party Candidate                75

The Number of Ballot Papers Rejected was as follows:

(a) Want of Official Mark 0
(b) Voting for more candidates than the voter was entitled to 0
© Writing or mark by which the voter could be identified 0
(d) Being unmarked or wholly void for uncertainty 1
(e) Rejected in part 0

Total spoilt votes: 1

AND I HEREBY DECLARE that Stuart Paul Anderson has been duly elected.

Turnout: 28.74%

They have now demolished the BP garage in Edgar Street. Here are a few pictures I took over the weekend.

New Tourist Information centre opened by our Mayor Sharon Michael in the Butter Market today.

Recently I have noticed that most mornings there are two or more people sleeping rough in the doorway of the Freedom Church on Commercial Road.