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Saving The Working Boys Home *UPDATE*


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Oh you've been missed alright Cambo!

 

It's not the same without you! Make sure you keep on posting...... or I'll be putting up "Missing" posters!

 

I do still think their reasons for rejecting the Country Bus Station are a bit suspect. It will be available in October 2016.....less than 18 months away. The fire service have said they are prepared to wait.

 

What's 18 months in the big scheme of things?

 

It's nothing really.

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Oh you've been missed alright Cambo!

 

It's not the same without you! Make sure you keep on posting...... or I'll be putting up "Missing" posters!

 

I do still think their reasons for rejecting the Country Bus Station are a bit suspect. It will be available in October 2016.....less than 18 months away. The fire service have said they are prepared to wait.

 

What's 18 months in the big scheme of things?

 

It's nothing really.

It is but maybe the council don't like the thought of us on the voice & other campaigners having total victory?…Or perhaps the fire service & police have had orders from higher up the food chain to combine there faculties?

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  • 1 month later...

Just received this email

 

Dear Friends,

Thank you for signing the petition Save The Old 'Boys' Home which, with the accompanying publicity, resulted in the fire service withdrawing their application. This does not mean, however, that Herefordshire Council will not come up with another scheme to wilfully destroy this lovely building, so be prepared to watch for a new petition and don't get confused if we have to start again.

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/save-the-old-boys-home

Thanks again

John Perkins

 

I can see it is going to be free for all for planning now 

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BREAKING NEWS - Hereford Times 15th May 2015 by Bill Tanner, Senior Reporter

 
A SHARED police and fire station in Hereford could be built as part of redevelopment plans for the city’s Merton Meadow off Edgar Street.
 
This morning (Fri) both West Mercia Police and Hereford & Worcester Fire & Rescue Service confirmed that they were looking to develop a site “north of the football stadium†as an “innovative shared facilityâ€.
 
Both services will continue to work with Herefordshire Council on a site suitability assessment.
 
The fire service says the Bath Street site of Hereford’s former working boys home – currently council offices – is no longer an option for a new station.
 
Assistant Chief Fire Officer John Hodges said: “We have found working in close collaboration with our colleagues at the police on this exciting project to be very fruitful. We already have a very successful joint police and fire station in Bromsgrove and officers from both organisations have found real benefits in working alongside each other.
 
"It gives us greater joint training opportunities and helps us improve the management of incidents and ultimately the ability to deliver a better service to the public that we serve. It also is an excellent use of scarce resources in the current climate of reduced budgets.
 
“We are currently at the stage of carrying out feasibility studies into the Edgar Street site, so the project is in its early days. We will update the public with any further developments.â€
 
West Mercia police and crime commissioner Bill Longmore said he was “very pleased†to see the project moving forward.
 
“It's a new way of working, but I am a big supporter of a partnership approach - it will improve both services be financially beneficial,†he said.
 
In March, the Hereford Times revealed that talks over a shared police/fire station in the city were underway between senior officers from both services.
 
That month, a policy and resources meeting of Hereford & Worcester Fire & Rescue Authority (HWFRA) was told that undisclosed “preferred option†offered space for a fire station and training facility.
 
Before the site could be pitched publically, though, practicalities such as the ability for retained fire fighters to reach it within target attendance times had to be investigated.
 
That same meeting heard confirmation of site share talks with the police.
 
Hereford’s present fire station in St Owen Street is acknowledged as unfit for 21st century service.
 
The extensive refurbishment required is not seen by HWFRA as viable at an estimated cost of £5.5 million including the setting up of a temporary fire station while the work was done.
 
A new police HQ to replace the present space-squeezed base in Bath Street has long been on the agenda.
 
Faced with resistance from heritage campaigners, the fire service pulled out of its own move to Bath Street and the site of the city’s old working boys home that the council is vacating as offices.
 
The council and the fire service had reached a deal over the future for the site that saw the council getting the current fire station site in a land swap.
 
Alternatives put to the fire service at the time were disregarded as unsuitable.
 
The council has confirmed that the current County Bus Station off Commercial Road will not be available for development in the near future.
 
Several sites - including others in the Edgar Street area - have been investigated since the start of the year, some privately owned.
 
The council has pitched alternative sites of its own.
 
Senior fire service officers have also liaised with a local land agent to identify opportunities.
 
As reported by the Hereford Times, the new fire station would need meet the criteria of a new shift pattern that keeps full-time 24-7 999 cover in the county.
 
HWFRA has backed the new pattern called “Day Crew Plus†as a response to proposed - and strongly opposed - service cuts that would have cost Hereford station one of its two full-time appliances.
 
At its simplest, the pattern has day cover provided by two full-time crews with the second crew then “living in†at the station on call overnight. 
 

 

 

Common sense at last prevailing. Sorry John didn't realise you were linking to same story
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Ah, John!

 

Never, ever apologise for posting good news! And THIS, is very good news indeed!

 

Potentially, this could be music to my ears! (Providing they don't have any other sneaky plans for this beautiful building!)

 

And thanks, Megilleland, for copying it onto this thread!

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  • 1 month later...
  • 3 months later...

Copied from one of Bill Tanner's HT reports dtd 15.7.15 when HT reporting was worth the paper it was written on

 

 

"In May this year, HWFRS said it was no longer interested in the Bath Street site.

An independent valuation has established a market value for the entire site upon which open market disposal can be based.

The council says this valuation stays “commercially confidential† so as not to compromise potential offers.

Already the site is starting to deteriorate due to lack of use, so early exposure to the market is recommended as security costs escalate.

The current annual cost of keeping the site is around £100,000.

This will create further pressure this year as the council’s insurers have insisted that the site is boarded up at an estimated cost of £80,000.

It is proposed that the site is marketed through a commercial agent procured through the council’s financial procedure rules.

The marketing costs, determined by competitive tender, will be recovered from the capital sale - indicatively they are 1-2 per cent of the sale price.

Any capital receipt will depend upon the intended end use by the purchaser.

The council sees the site as lending itself to a variety of uses, with any indicative value being difficult to estimate.

As an example, if the site was to be purchased for housing the council expects the gross receipt would be more than £1 million."

 

At this rate HC will soon whistle through the estimated sales value before even selling it - good bit of business HC well done

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  • 9 months later...

More of Herefordshire's heritage going going gone - thank you so very much HC you have done us proud and continue to do us proud

Apart from the crumbling facade of this building there is not very much to save.Many adaptions and extensions over the years make this building

pretty much unviable to save.If it had all its original architecture & not have been hacked to death inside then I would be more than happy to see this building saved.

It's also all very well for all of us living in our cozy homes to sit there and not think of the desperate plight of thousands of people,a lot of them homeless in Herefordshire on the waiting list for a place to live.This site will have upto 40 homes,all very much needed.

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  • 3 weeks later...

From the HT;

 

A consultation event on future plans for the former council offices on Bath Street is to take place next Thursday (September 8).

 
Herefordshire Housing, which has purchased the property from Herefordshire Council, is offering county residents the opportunity to drop in and talk through the proposals for the site.
 
It takes place at Brierley Court on Turner Street, Hereford, between 4pm and 7pm.
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Had a letter today from Hereford Housing advising me of the Consultation , stating that it's a wide consulation which they encouraged all residents in the area to engage in the process -

 

That's great but I live 5 miles from the City Centre - I presume I received the letter because I objected to the Fire and Rescue knocking down the Working Boys Home ................

 

Going on from that has anybody from HC and HH said that they intend to knock down the building or are they going to convert the building into apartments ?

 

I accept fully that more Social Housing is needed in the City .

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If Hereford Housing plan to demolish the site because of cost  or previous poor adaptions etc., I would hope this will raise the exactly same volume of objections as when the Fire Brigade planned to to do exactly the same.

Dave99 , whilst I can agree in principal with you about the volume of objections to knocking the building down etc I have a bit of indecision because , as we know ,for whatever reason there is a shortage of Social Housing in the City - my hope is that HH convert the building rather than knocking it down -

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Consultation is today on Hereford housings plans for the old boys home considering it was a long old scrap to stop the fire services from demolishing the building wil be interesting to see want HH has planned for the site I remain optimistic of conversion along with some new builds containing flats?

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