From the Hereford Times 19th January 2012

County ward in Herefordshire among UK's worst child poverty spot

MORE than 4,000 children and young people in the county are now categorised as growing up within the worst indicators of child poverty in the UK.

A report for Herefordshire Council's health and wellbeing board says child poverty is a significant issue for many local communities.

One ward - Golden Post- Newton Farm in south Hereford is confirmed as among the worst in the UK for unemployment or limited opportunities for work.

And two of the worst wards for child poverty in the county are in Leominster.

The board was told of strategies being drawn up between the county's economic, health and education sectors to tackle issues raised within five years.

All told, about 4,500 children in the county & the majority of them under 16 & are said by the report to be growing up in poverty.

The worst ward for overall deprivation is Golden Post- Newton Farm, which is also in the UK top 10 for employment deprivation.

Hereford's South Wye wards as a whole are said to have the highest level of young people not in education, employment or training.

The city's Central ward has an under-18 pregnancy rate running at nearly three times the county average. Leominster's Ridgemoor and Gateway wards also feature in child poverty lists.

The report makes a direct link between child poverty, historically low wages in the county and the number of part-time workers, particularly women.

Poor housing conditions & especially in the private rented sector and rural communities are identified as an issue too, the latter particularly lacking mains service infrastructure such as water, gas, and drainage.

The report cites the county's most recent housing condition survey that, in 2006, showed more than nine per cent of homes had serious hazards and more than 40 per cent failed the decent homes standard.

The waiting list for social housing in the county now tops 5,000.

In schools, the report finds a 30 per cent attainment gap emerging between pupils eligible for free school meals and those who aren't while one in 10 children in reception classes is categorised as obese.

Anyone got any idea why this is? Have these estates been neglected by the authorities for too many years? Many of the cities estates built over 40/50 years ago have had little in the way of facilities to improve the quality of life ie Youth club closed, church closed, and threat of loss of open space.

I had a two hour meeting at South Wye police station with Inspector Nick Semper this morning, during our discussions I ask him why the front desk at South Wye police station is CLOSED! I received the following short statement from Inspector Semper which he asked me to pass onto the public.

Due to staffing shortages in the main Public Service Counter at Bath Street, Hereford, the clerk from South Wye Police Station has been temporarily redeployed to the main Police Station, i.e. Bath Street.

This decision has been based on operational needs.

Council & NHSH Budget Consultation meeting will be held at the Kindle Centre Asda Supermarket, Belmont Road Hereford HR2 7JE
on December 2nd 2011 between 6.30 and 8.30pm

Flyer attached

BUDGET CONSULTATION A5 Flyer Kindle copy.pdf

Please find attached the minutes from the September PC Meeting.

September 11 Minutes.pdf

Report from initial meeting of the Website Working Party. (Taken from Sept 2011 minutes)

Members have been provided with a copy of the initial report from the Website Working Party which recommended:

that the parish council pursue the option of creating its own website, rather than use another community site

that a .gov domain be obtained to confirm that the site is a formal site for Belmont Rural Parish Council

that the initial site be kept as an informational site only but with an option to develop into a more interactive site at a later date and that consideration be given to ensuring that maintenance of the site is sufficiently user friendly to keep the time required for updating to a minimum.

Members noted comments from a member of the public in attendance at the meeting that a community website managed by Mr. Colin James could be used for parish council purposes, and Mr. James comments that parish councillors could use the website forum as a means of communicating with members of the public, which he felt was more appropriate than the electronic noticeboard being proposed by members of the working party.

After a brief discussion, and noting in particular the recommendations of the National Association of Local Councils on this subject, it was agreed that the recommendations of the website working party be accepted and that the working party be authorised to progress this by obtaining a .gov domain name and setting up a draft site for Members approval at a later date. It was further agreed that a provisional budget of £100.00 be agreed to support this activity.

I would like to advise all residents within Newton Farm that I have been working with Martin Gilleland in proposing - Argyll Rise, Waterfield Road, Newton Farm, Herefordshire HR2 7BN to be formally nominated as one of the Queens Dianmond Jubillee (Fields in Trust) nominations

This means that if we are successful then the open space to the rear of Argyll Rise will be secured for future generations to enjoy and will protect this lovely open space from being built or even developed on.

Even though it has now been formally accepted as one of the nominations and is only the second open space in Herefordshire, the real hard work is soon to start. We will need as much support and everyone to vote on line so that the more we get the better chance we will have in keeping this for ever.

I am extremily proud to be supporting this fantastic initiative.

All that is known currently is voting will commence sometime in October 2011.

When I know more on how the voting process is to be conducted I will personally visit all the homes surrounding the area to try and get as much support as is possible.

I have just received the following email from James Blissett:

Just to advise you that Amey Herefordshire intend to start work on repairs/remodelling of the spillway and the foundations for the footbridge tomorrow.

 

They don't have a timescale as this will depend upon weather etc, but should be all completed in two weeks.

 

Areas will be fenced off and inaccessible during this time.

This is the ideal time for work, minimising wildlife disturbance.

 

If anything changes I will advise.

 

James

 

James Blissett

Principal Countryside Officer.

I took my dogs for a walk up to Belmont lake and was shocked to see they have removed the logs out of the water.Where are the ducks and the turtles suppose to sit now.They have removed all of them.Even the one the turtles used to sit on.Who ever did it do not know the lakes very well,as many children used to go up there to look at the turtles on the log. Also there are not as many ducks and the ones which were there have no where to sit.
And what is happening with the sewage it still smells and this has been a problem for a few years now is nothing being done.A couple of weeks ago one of my dogs paddled in the water.The next day she came out in a rash,so there must be something in the water.Did anyone see Country File last night, there could be the same thing in the lakes.So anyone with dogs or children BEWARE.   And wash your hands after touching the water.I am going to contact the environment agency about the sewage as it should have been sorted out by now.

What a pleasant suprise to see Amey pull up this morning and start cutting back the tree's and brambles on the green at the bottom of Glastonbury Close.

I am sorry to be negative here, but how vile is the colour paint that they have used around The Oval? it's like a cheap yellow! Could they not of come up with just a pale cream or something, anyway besides that,, I thought that it was all being knocked down?? so why are they wasting more of our money on this pointless scheme, I mean it's been okay for the past 20 years or more so why decide to paint it now?

Congratulations to Colin, Belmont Voice has today gone over 100,000 website hits, now that is incredible in less than 2 years! fantastic.

BRPC Annual Report 2011

Annual Meeting May 11 Minutes.pdf

Alternative bus route will be in operation in Newton Farm due to resurfacing of following roads.

On 30th Aug until 31st Aug the Newton Farm bus will not travel along upper Brampton Rd and Kilpeck Ave, pick up point will be in Treago Grove or Brampton Rd opposite the Brampton Rd Stores.

1st Sept until 2nd Sept due to road resurfacing and closure, buses will travel up Goodrich Grove from town and return the same way. Buses WILL NOT pick up or drop off in Masefield Ave, Charlton Ave, Broxash Drive, the Oval or corner of Goodrich Grove.

Liz has kindly sent me the most recent approved PC minutes from the meeting held of June 30th 2011. I have asked her if she would kindly forward me the more recent ones once they have been approved.

June 11 Minutes.pdf

I drove to the tip earlier in my company car (back is kitted out with samle ceramic tile boards)with 5 bags of old kids toys and a bag of garden grass waste. I was told this is trade waste and I need to pay or collect a permit from the council. I explained and showed the man that this is household waste, but he refused to let me in. There was a car there with about 20 full bags of rubbish, but because he was in an estate car (which was actually bigger than my car)he was allowed through??

I came hom and phoned the council, they said we will put you through to waste department, eventually I got through to the council offices in Bromyard? I asked the woman if she could give me th number to the Oval offices, she explained that she did not know of this office and suggested that I call the swithboard again. I again called the swichboard and explained what had happened and again asked for the waste department, this time I was put through to planning! :Angry_32: the guy explained that he knew a lot about waste, so I asked him how I go about getting a permit, he said I needed to go to Garrick House (City Centre) but I needed to take the vehicle registration doucuments?? I explained that this was a company car and that I did not have the documents, then he said that I needed to provide a letter from my company explaining that I had permission to use the vehicle and it was ok to use it to drop off waste, what the hell has that got to do with the council?? I have decided that I will leave all the rubbish on the street and the bin men can take it on Monday and if they refuse it will stay there!! what a joke! It's no wonder that all this fly tipping happens, the council do not make it easy for you do they.

I cannot be the only person that has a pickup.

This is what happens when requests are ignored...

Do you all remember when I asked for the Tree's at the bottom of Glastonbury Close to be cut down and bushes cleared? Well after many discussion between myself Cllr Powell and Amey eventually, a few men were sent up to clear the open space area. (Nov 2009) At the time the supervisor from Amey suggested that they only need cut back the tree's, both Cllr Powell, myself and other residents said it would be better and safer (preventing kids climbing on the spiked metal fence surround McDonald's) if the tree's were cut down totally, but no he insisted that they would leave stumps... I told them then that they would need to come back within a year or so, no no no he said it will be at least 4 or 5 years before they need pruning again.

Well this is what they looked like when Amey had completed their work



And this is what it looks like today



I guess it's time for another call to Amey eh..

I was having an argument with a friend. Can someone please clarify what area is considered as South Wye and what is Belmont and the difference when the word ward is added?

I have send a message to BRPC to ask her if she could email across the last minutes of meetings held, hopefully Colin can then publish these for us.