When is a Director of Law not a Director of Law? When he's on a suspension...

http://johnbrace.com/2014/07/16/did-officers-breach-wirral-councils-constitution-when-they-sent-out-the-eviction-notice-for-fernbank-farm/

A friend kindly sent these couple of photographs showing a birds eye view of Belmont taken last weekend.

You can see Tesco and the garage in this photograph.

Care Quality Commission Report 14.10.14

Lazenchenulmen, I give you....

Richard Penn.

public-servants-with-attitudes-not-nice-ones-yikes

It will be useful to have information on this scheme here.

Herefordshire Council is delighted to have received six expressions of interest regarding development of the Buttermarket in Hereford.

This followed a national marketing campaign, which generated a lot of interest and saw 17 information packs being distributed.

The six interested candidates have now been invited to submit a short presentation and outline business case to a selected panel on Thursday 11 December.

The successful shortlisted candidates will then be asked to submit a full business case in April / May 2015, with a preferred candidate and development proposal being selected in early summer.

Shoppers and visitors will be able to park for free in city centre car parks this Christmas as part of an ongoing campaign to promote Hereford as a Christmas shopping destination.

According to The Hereford Times, the GP walk in clinic has been sealed off. There are no more details as yet.

I don't know if this is coincidence or not, but there are a fair few helicopters in the sky at the moment.

The Beefy Boys ‘Butty Back’ burger wows judges in final round of

World Burger Championships!

The Beefy Boys have excelled in The World Burger Championships in Las Vegas, with their Butty Back burger claiming top spot in the final round!  The team’s cumulative scores saw them take an amazing overall 2^nd place in the world!

The Beefy Boys are six amateur cooks from Herefordshire, whose passion for turning quality local produce into amazing BBQ foods, guided only by their taste buds and a lot of experimentation has catapulted them into the spotlights on the world food stage.  They won Best Burger at the top UK BBQ competition Grillstock in Bristol in June and qualified for a place at the World Food Championships in Las Vegas, to compete against 50 of the best burger teams in the world. 

The World Food Championships is the highest stakes food competition in the world. This multi-day, live-event culinary competition in Downtown Las Vegas, showcases some of the world's best cooking masters competing for fame and fortune, and is broadcast to millions via a 6 episode US TV series.

The competition was already tough, with experienced professional competition teams but the Beefy Boys faced the added challenge of having to recreate their burgers from scratch Stateside as they were unable to import their 21 day-aged Herefordshire meat and specially baked local brioche buns – both of which had to be sourced from scratch in Las Vegas, to the team’s demanding specifications. 

They successfully won their way through to the 10 team final and then pulled out all the stops with their ‘Butty Back’ Burger in the final round.  This show-stopping burger featured their signature patty – mouth-watering beef brisket smoked with Butty Bach ale from Wye Valley Brewery and impressed the judges with its deliciously matched Butty Bach sauce. 

On overall scores, they were piped at the post by the 2013 World Burger Champions but for a self-taught UK team to reach second place, beating many successful American teams at their own game, is an incredible achievement.   For the boys from Hereford, it still feels like hitting the jackpot.  They take home a prize pot of $5,000. “We feel so fortunate to be able to showcase Herefordshire and a take a taste of the county and its produce on to the world’s stage - elements that without which we wouldn't have been able to achieve what we have so far,” said Christian Williams, one of the amateur cooks. “It was an incredible experience and we can’t wait to share it with everyone back home.”

The whole story of the Beefy Boy’s Las Vegas adventures has been captured on film by Shooting Reels and the first cuts will be released before Christmas.   

Hope you like the three benches Cllr Bob Preece and I have had installed along the river path behind ASDA. They have been paid for with money we got from the City Council for minor works in the Ward.
These particular benches are to commemorate the people from South Wye who have given their lives for this country.

They include the 57 men from St.Martins who died in the Great War at a time when none of the housing that is in the area now, existed! Must have effected and devastated every family in the area. When you sit on them, please spend a moment of reflection.

We have also had two different type of benches placed in the dog run on the KG meadows, for owners whose dogs like to take a time doing what dogs do!

The next Belmont Rural Parish Council meeting will be held on Thursday 4 December 2014 at the Belmont Community Centre, starting at 7.00pm. It is hoped that Natalia Silver of Herefordshire District Council will attend and finalise HDC’s proposals for the Belmont Library for 2015-16.

Currently available information suggests that, if the Belmont Library is to continue as it is now, there will a £7,000 to £10,000 in HDC funding. Which agencies, if any, who might be willing to bridge this shortfall is not established. Notwithstanding South Wye Community Association, the charity which owns the Belmont Community Centre, has made it very clear that, though they would like to keep the Library on their premises in the public interest, they cannot afford to subsidize it. A £2,000 rent reduction was imposed on the Association this year, and any further rent reduction might threaten the financial viability of the Belmont Centre.  SWCA has clearly indicated that a rent of £7,950per annum is required from the Belmont Library. The reader should be aware that maintenance & repair, utility costs, cleaning, and freedom of access to kitchen and toilet facilities, to Library staff and visitors, are included in this rent. Furthermore compared to the hire charges requested from the Centre’s other users the Library rent is already substantially discounted.

Taken from the Belmont Community Centre Website:

Why not ban the traffic or is that too difficult. Maybe the council can get some consultants with clip boards to draw up a feasibility study. Don't let Bobby47 see this!

Question from Councillor WLS Bowen

Question 8

Accommodation Strategy

Can the Cabinet Member please confirm:

a) What is the total cost of refurbishing the Shire Hall for the use of Herefordshire Council?

b) What will be the total cost of refurbishing the Plough Lane site?

c) What is the expected receipt from the sale of Brockington?

d) How much has been spent on Hereford Town Hall?

e) If the Shire Hall received a new, energy efficient heating system.

Answer to question 8

a) The works are not fully complete, current forecast total scheme spend is to budget being £2.8m

b) The works are not fully complete, current forecast total scheme spend is to budget being £4m

c) £1.5m. It should also be noted that there will be significant revenue savings generated by moving operations from this building.

d) The Town Hall is not scheduled for refurbishment within the current accommodation strategy.

e) The refurbished area is now served by two new highly efficient condensing boilers. The rest of the Shire Hall remains serviced by existing boilers which will be upgraded in future phases.

It's the last weekend of our firearms surrender campaign. Please take this opportunity to hand in any unlicensed or unwanted firearms so we can safely destroy them.

372 firearms handed in so far across West Mercia and Warwickshire policing areas. 

http://www.westmercia.police.uk/…/final-weekend-of-firearms…

From the Planning Portal today;

"Combined Midlands authority proposed

A group of five West Midland and Black Country councils has written to Chancellor George Osborne announcing their intention to form a combined authority in line with the pioneering Greater Manchester initiative.

The five local authorities initially involved - Birmingham City Council, Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council, Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council City Council, Walsall Council and Wolverhampton City Council – have revealed they are in “ongoing discussions" with Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council and Coventry City Council "as well as a number of the neighbouring district councils" .

They are hoping to build an alliance with "direct influence over the economic fortunes of more than 3.4 million people in the wider midlands area.

The councils said they hoped to agree the devolution of powers from central Government to the combined authority which was expected to "focus on strategic planning and delivery for economic development and transport"."

Its coming - Herefordshire will inevitably join with Shropshire and others - those in charge simply won't be able resist the lure of more power, more money, more expenses.