On 18 September 2020 at Hereford Magistrates Court, Mrs Pearl Smith (51) of Oak Crescent, Clehonger pleaded guilty of failing to transfer her waste to an authorised person and secure the transfer with a written description of the waste. 

In the case taken by Herefordshire Council’s Community Protection Team, Mrs Smith received a fine of £320, victim surcharge of £32 and a contribution towards costs of £150.

In this case, six household bags full of waste and a shopping trolley were found dumped in Newton brook which runs along Waterfield Road in Hereford in March 2019.

Evidence found in the bags led officers to Ms Smith who failed to co-operate with the investigation and provide an account of how her waste became fly tipped. At the hearing, Smith accepted that she had failed to transfer the waste to an authorised person and had therefore failed in her Duty of Care.David Hough, Herefordshire Council’s Trading Standards Service Manager, said:

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“Everyone has a legal duty of care to make sure their waste is disposed of correctly. This case shows you can be prosecuted even if your waste is fly tipped by someone else on your behalf. We would advise residents to always use a registered waste carrier and to never use the services of cold callers and social media tip run adverts which offer to remove waste for cash.

“The Community Protection Team will investigate fly tipping and anyone seeing a fly tip should report it via the council website or by phoning 01432 261761.”

 

West Mercia Police is investigating an assault after it was reported that a non-corrosive substance was thrown from a car.

The incident happened on Thursday 1 October in Westfaling Street, Hereford, at around 1.30pm.

A man was walking along the road when the passenger in a moving vehicle threw a substance at him.
The vehicle is described as a dark blue Ford Fiesta, with white writing on the rear windscreen, it was travelling towards the city centre.

PC Trotman said: “Thankfully the man did not suffer any serious injuries but it was obviously an upsetting incident for him. We’d like to speak to anyone who saw this vehicle or has information relating to the incident to get in touch with us.”

Please contact PC Trotman on 01432 347129 quoting reference 533 i 1 October 2020 if you have any information.

#herefordvoice #herefordnews #hereford

Businesses across the Marches are being invited to have their say on how the region should plan its economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic at a major virtual summit later this month.

The Marches Economic Recovery Summit – being staged by the Marches Local Enterprise Partnership – will bring together key local and regional partners to discuss the priorities for the region’s economy in the wake of the virus.

And the business community is also being urged to have its say by signing up for the October 15 event.

The summit – from 2.00pm to 3.30pm – is being held during the LEP-led Marches Business Recovery Week which aims to shape an agenda for the region’s future.

Marches LEP chair Mandy Thorn said guests would include representatives from the region’s three local authorities, business support organisations such as the British Business Bank, chambers of commerce, business boards and business and farming organisations.

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“This summit is very much about bringing organisations and sectors together to discuss how best the region can move towards recovery. I will be sharing the recovery priorities identified to date and asking some of those attending to give their views on these and put forward their priorities for recovery.

“We will also be carrying out polls during the discussions and sharing the results. Members of the public will be able to register to attend and all will be able to submit views via the chat function as well as taking part in the polls.

“We want to gather as wide a range of opinions as possible so that we can be confident the priorities we identify are those of the business community as a whole and not just a small section of it.”

For more information and to register to attend the event – which will be held on the Zoom platform – visit HERE

The Marches LEP is the business-led body tasked by the Government with driving economic growth across Herefordshire, Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin.

Its Business Recovery Week – which starts on October 12 – will see the launch of its annual report, the unveiling of a new digital strategy for the region, the launch of a new website to help people update their skills and training and find work, and the LEP’s annual public meeting.

It is with deep sadness that we share the news of the death of Councillor Bernard Hunt, on Tuesday 6 October 2020.

There will be a minute’s silence at Full Council on Friday 9 October 2020.

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Councillor Hunt first served on the council in its “shadow” year leading to the formation of Herefordshire Council in May 1998, as a new unitary authority. He served until May 2000.  He was re-elected and returned to the council in May 2003 to 2011, where he served as the ward member for Bromyard. Most recently, Councillor Hunt was elected in May 2019 as the ward member for Newton Farm ward. He also served as a Hereford City Councillor.

Councillor Hunt was an active member of the council serving on a number of prominent committees and working groups.  He was a member of council who routinely tabled questions and motions at Full Council meetings.  He was also an influential member of the general scrutiny committee and a valued member of the planning and regulatory committee. 

Through the work of the rethinking governance working group he was an advocate of progressive and positive changes to the way the council conducts its official business.  In his role on the Covid-19 working group he actively contributed and supported local efforts to protect our communities to remain safe during the ongoing public health emergency.

Councillor Hunt was a dedicated and hardworking local councillor, a passionate advocate of local concerns and issues in the council chamber, professional in all his council duties and a friend to many of us.  He served his community and the residents of Herefordshire with distinction. 

He will be sadly missed and always warmly remembered by us all.

Bit of a shock. Had an email from him about a local matter only 10 days ago saying that he would very much like to attend that meeting. Always found him responsive. Condolences to his family over his sudden death.

Mars is closer to Earth in October than it will be for another 15 years: How to see red planet.

Photo credit: 123RF

If you spied a fiery red star close to the full moon over the weekend, it was actually Mars shining its bright red light in the night sky.

The planet will be visible at night throughout October, rising the highest in the sky around midnight each evening. It will shine in the east each evening and in the west before dawn.

But Mars doesn't always make an appearance like this. So, why is Mars shining so brightly?

The red planet makes its closest approach to Earth at 10:18 am ET on October 6. Mars will be 38,586,816 miles away from Earth --- yes, that's close for Mars -- and it won't be this close again until 2035. Mars in 2003 made its closest approach to Earth in 60,000 years, coming within a distance of 34.65 million miles. 

Feel free to share your photographs of the planet Mars which is pretty dominant in the sky tonight.

Source: CNN

#herefordvoice #Mars

Lollipops on the common, based near Widemarsh Common in Hereford confirmed the case this afternoon. 

A statement said:👇

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“It is with great sadness that we can confirm we have had a child in our setting test positive for Covid-19. 

We would like to express that we have worked very hard to put stringent procedures in place regarding Covid-19 to keep all of our children, parents and staff safe.

But unfortunately today a child has been dropped off for their normal session at nursery (having had a covid test on Saturday) the parents have sadly not shared this information with us until they rang mid morning to confirm the child had had a test and it had come back positive. 

The implications of this are huge.

We now have a high number of children and staff having to self isolate for 14 days, this has now forced us as a setting to close.

We would like to ensure parents that we have been working with Public Health England today and they were very pleased with our Covid-19 Risk Assessment and our policies and procedures we have in place.

As I am sure we are sharing the same frustrations this situation has put us all in, and we can only thank our parents for their understanding at this terrible time.

Public Health England have confirmed we are able to re-open on Tuesday 20th October 

Thankyou ...the Lollipops Team.”

 

#herefordvoice #herefordnews #hereford

Revealed: The least and most deprived neighbourhoods in Hereford

By Carmelo Garcia, Local Democracy Reporter, Hereford Times - 4th October 2020

HEREFORD has one of the most poverty-stricken areas in the UK, according to council statistics on deprivation.

The latest figures show that there are 18,500 people living in deprived households across the county – this is about a tenth of the population.

There are 11 places in Herefordshire that are within in the 25% most deprived nationally, which feature in The Indices of Deprivation 2019 report published by Herefordshire Council.

The most deprived are south of Hereford and in Leominster, Ross-on-Wye and Bromyard.

Golden Post-Newton Farm in Hereford is the most deprived area in the county and is the only one to be in the 10% most deprived nationally.

Other deprived parts of the city include Hunderton, Redhill-Belmont Road, Newton Farm-Brampton Road and Hunderton-Bishop’s Meadow.

In Leominster, 28% of people in Ridgemoor are living in income deprived households and the Grange and Gateway areas are also among the county’s most deprived places.

The John Kyrle area in Ross also appears in the council’s report along with Bromyard Central.

Newton Farm councillor Bernard Hunt says local people feel overlooked when it comes to crime and access to housing.

“Police can be very slow to respond to complaints about the bad behaviour of a minority of young people,” he said.

“They feel a bit overlooked. When it comes to drugs, they will report people who are selling drugs but isn’t followed up.

“When it comes to access to housing, Herefordshire Council have been generally good, but they are restricted due to a lack of central government funding.”

Coun Hunt said one of the benefits people have in Newton Farm is access to good transport links.

This is something he says many other rural areas struggle with.

Around 3,900 children are living in income deprivation across Herefordshire, that’s about 12% population aged under 16.

And around 6,100 older people are living in income deprivation across Herefordshire.

Of the 29 most deprived areas in the county, 15 are in Hereford city, eight are in the market towns and six are located in more rural areas including Fromes Hill, Greater Weobley, Kingsbridge, Greater Docklow, Greater Bosbury and Kington Doughnut.

Hereford city also has some of the least deprived areas, particularly in the north of the river, as do rural areas surrounding the city.

Other less deprived areas are found within Ledbury, Leominster and Ross-on-Wye, as well as rural areas in the east of the county around Ledbury and Cradley and to the south of Bromyard.

Herefordshire Lower Layer Super Output Areas that are amongst the most deprived nationally according to income domain of the index of deprivation 2019:

  1 Golden Post-Newton Farm: 29 % living in income deprived households

  2 Leominster-Ridgemoor: 28 % living in income deprived households

  3 Leominster Grange: 25% living in income deprived households

  4 Leominster-Gateway: 25% living in income deprived households

  5 Hunderton: 23% living in income deprived households

  6 Ross-John Kyrle: 22% living in income deprived households

  7 Bromyard Central: 20% living in income deprived households

  8 Newton Farm-Brampton Road: 20% living in income deprived households

  9 Redhill-Belmont Road: 20% living in income deprived households

10 Hunderton-Bishop’s Meadow: 20% living in income deprived households

Agree with Cllr Hunt concerning “Police can be very slow to respond to complaints about the bad behaviour of a minority of young people” I gave up calling 101 after 16 minutes on hold and 10 mins calling Herefordshire Housing to say that youths who regularly use the top of our garages as a meeting place are now climbing up scaffolding at Sherborne Close. Someone is going to injure themselves badly if they fall. I think the police did turn up eventually, but by this time they had moved on to somewhere else.

Those new bay locations across the city are as follows. 👇

Cock of Tupsley

Westfailing Street

Tower Road

Holme Lacy Road/St Clares Court

Blackmarston Road

Cider Press Drive

Hinton Road

Glendower Close

Grafton Park & Choose site

thePoint4 Gym

Dorchester Way

Attwood Lane/Roman Road

Harold Street

Hereford County Hospital

Asda Hereford

Bath Street Car Park

Halo Leisure Centre

Ledbury Road/St Owen’s Street

The Knoll

Tesco Express Whitecross Road

Eign Street

Stretton Close

Fayre Oaks Home Park

Aylestone Park

Hereford Racecourse

#HerefordVoice #HerefordNews

A Wild Hops & Barley Loaf from Peter Cooks Bread in Worcester has been crowned Britain’s Best Loaf 2020.

You will find the wonderful Peter Cooks Bread in various shops across Herefordshire including Fodder in Church St Hereford.

It was chosen as the standout winner from the competition’s six categories: Gluten Free, Innovation, Plain Sourdough, Sourdough with Other Ingredients, White and Wholegrain (see full list of the winners and highly commended loaves below).

The winning loaf stood out to the judges thanks to its innovative use of ingredients. The process is kicked off by creating a tea from hops which is used to make a sourdough starter. Once it’s had a week to mature, the starter is mixed with strong white flour and water before toasted spent beer grains, which have been soaked in ale overnight, are added from the Hop Shed Brewery. The loaf is bulk fermented for four hours then shaped and retarded overnight before baking the next day.

“The Wild Hops & Barley Loaf from Peter Cooks Bread is a deserving winner of Britain’s Best Loaf. It is a beautiful, and tasty, loaf with a great story behind it,” said Amy North, editor, British Baker.

“It faced stiff competition – the judges were very impressed with the overall quality of entries this year, particularly in the innovation category where we were delighted with botanical loaves, cheesy concoctions and some truly outstanding bread.”

The event was sponsored by ADM, American Pan UK and Scobie McIntosh/Revent, and took place at Meridian Hall in East Grinstead on 23 September 2020. 

📷 British Baker

Herefordshire Council advise of parking changes from today, Mon 5 Oct when using pay by phone parking, the bit extra you pay for the convenience has now reduced from 36p to 16p. You can still add-on the extra’s but you'll be charged separately- opting for a reminder 10p, extending your parking time 16p.

KC Maintenance

For all your gardening and landscaping requirements

Hereford Mayor Cllr Kath Hey attended the renaming of the Canary Bridge (formally the Greenway bridge). The bridge has been offially renamed in memory of The Canary Girls who worked in the Rotherwas Munitions Factory.  

📷 Nicola Goodwin

#HerefordVoice #Hereford #HerefordNews #CanaryGirls #VEDay75

McDonald's outlet on Belmont Road Hereford could soon become Hereford's first 24 hour McDonalds if planning is granted following their application.

An independent has bucked the trend and taken over the former Sports Direct in Maylords Orchards.

The new store will be like an independent urban outfitters offering vintage clothing as well as unique pieces of furniture and homeware.

Work has already began and the new store will be opening in the very near future. 

It's fabulous news for our independent businesses in Hereford and we wish them every luck. 

B4224 FOWNHOPE UPDATE | The grading of the bank is nearly complete and a cellular membrane has been applied to help stabilise erosion (see pictures). Top soil will be applied next before the work begins to reinstate the road.

The estimated reopening of the road is still Autumn.

http://councillors.herefordshire.gov.uk/documents/s50082771/Major contract performance review.pdf

It's only taken seven years to discover that the council's monitoring of the contract is rubbish.

Steven Tracy Lock, 53 of Moreton-on-Lugg, Herford appeared at Worcester Crown Court on Monday (28 September) for sentencing, after pleading guilty to four counts of burglary of a dwelling and one count of burglary of a non-dwelling.

Steven Tracy Lock

The offences took place across Herefordshire and Monmouthshire between September 2019 and April 2020.
Detective Constable Laurence James, from Hereford proactive CID, said:

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“Lock targeted vulnerable, elderly women and men - aged in their 70s to 90s, breaking into their homes, in the middle of the night and taking cash, jewellery and/or power tools from them. He also broke into a shop and took cash out of the till.

“We will not tolerate burglaries in our community and hope this sentence sends a message to offenders that we will take robust action against those found to be committing crimes of this nature.

“I welcome today’s sentence and hope the victims in this case feel that justice has been served.”

 

Five people were arrested in connection with county lines drug supply in various operations across Hereford during a national County Lines Intensification Week that took place between Monday 14 September and Sunday 20 September.

Considerable quantities of drugs and cash were seized by police during the week of intensification.

Three men have been charged and remanded to custody and two men have been bailed.

Detective Sergeant Nick Shutt, of Herefordshire Proactive CID, said:

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“Tackling serious and organised crime, such as county lines, is a priority for us and we will continue to do all we can to target those exploiting children, young people and vulnerable adults under our campaign protect.”

Protect is West Mercia Police's response to tackling serious and organised crime and those who cause the most harm in our communities to protect people from harm.