Saving The Working Boys Home *UPDATE*

[SON OF GRIDKNOCKER]

How refreshing that Worcestershire CC is able to attract environmentally-enlightened folk to the ranks of its councillors.  Debating the possible sale of the city's fine old fire station, Cllr Gretton is reported in the WEN as saying: "I just hope we don't sacrifice a better capital receipt because we need the money."

 

Wouldn't it be nice to hear Herefordshire councillors (of whatever political stripe) echoing similar concerns about the needless destruction of the former Working Boys Home in Bath Street?  Instead, like a cracked 78rpm record, all they want to remind us of is the blinkered view of that bloated quango English Heritage, that the Bath Street buildings are of 'no architectural merit' - the latest to recycle this crass observation being Cllr Bramer, in a letter in this week's Hereford Times.

[SON OF GRIDKNOCKER]

Nil desperandum fellow posters....or as the eternally-optimistic Cambo has already pointed out 'It ain't over until the fat lady signs.'

 

So the next date to mark in your diaries is Monday 14th April, when at Brockington Towers, the council's Cabinet will meet to debate last week's decision by the H&W fire authority to go ahead with the 'land swap' deal, which would eventually see them building a new fire station on the Bath Street site of the former Working Boys Home.

 

I would suggest that it behoves all of you out there - especially if your own ward councillor happens to have a seat at the Cabinet table - to e-mail your objection to this daft idea, particularly as evidence has recently emerged that not only is there a more appropriate site for the new fire station (and more central and with improved access to the city's road network), but that this particular location has never been offered to H&WFA by Herefordshire Council, despite the fact that a) it owns the land and b) it is currently woefully under-used!

[Aylestone Voice]

Don't you mean Thursday 10 April?

[SON OF GRIDKNOCKER]

Thanks AV.  Thursday 10 April @ 2.00pm.  Brockington Towers. 

 

Please turn up if you can peeps and witness Herefordshire's unique brand of Democracy-Lite in action! 

[bobby47]

You keep going Cambo. Don't give in kiddo. My warmest regards to you.

[Cambo]

Thank you bobby that is most kind of you.

Well I did meet with cllr Bramer today @ 12pm where I was able to hand him a letter outlining why the county bus station would be a much better option as to where a new fire station should be relocated. unfortunately cllr bramer did not have time to go through it with me. But I guess he needs time to read it for himself then to digest the proposal? So I will chase him up in a couple of days so as I can get his thoughts.

In the mean time it might be worth folks emailing there local cllr's asking them to rejected bath street as the location for the new fire station, & to let HWFRS have the bus station instead??

[dippyhippy]

Well done Cambo!

[Cambo]

Thank you dippy hopefully he will give it serious consideration?

[SON OF GRIDKNOCKER]

Well done, Cambo.  Many of us, I'm sure, are puzzled as to why the council is hell-bent on off-loading the poor old boys home, rather than seeking out a more realistic location for this state-of-the-art fire station which the H&WFA needs.  It is also very curious that the land behind the Odeon (owned by the council) was never offered to H&WFA as a possible site.  Why not?  When this question was put to Mr Featherstone, Director of Corporate Assets, he implied that there were long-term plans to declare the present Country Bus Station 'surplus to use', but that this plan did not fit in the fire authority's time scale.  In plain English I take this to mean "we're eventually going to reduce the size of the bus station (fewer stands etc), and we might even re-locate it somewhere else - like Hereford Station forecourt.  But don't RUSH us!  We like to go at our own bureaucratic pace: snail-like / stationery, with lots and lots of meetings.  Exactly the same bureaucratic torpidity can be witnessed at the Skylon Business Park, which has been a designated Enterprise Zone for nearly three years, yet has precious little to show for it.

[Cambo]

Thank you grid knocker but you also deserve a pat on the back, as it was your mighty pen work that enabled me to be able to hand cllr bramer the letter.

Hopefully if they do agree that the bus station is a better location for a new fire station? they will be able to move swiftly on making it a reality?

[megilleland]

13 pages containing 309 comments and over 5200 views. You tend to lose which direction the Working Boys House is going. Let's look at the present situation. This is how I see it correct me if I'm wrong.

 

Fire station, Ledbury Road (H&W Fire Service) needs a new base central to the city centre.

 

Proposal is to put it on Council Office Bath Street site, following demolition, with the council getting the old fire site for car parking or housing. The quick fix.

 

More imagination and creativity needed (much discussed here)

 

Move the fire station to The County Bus Station. Well placed for fire high risk areas ie Hospital, Blind College, Railway Station, City Centre and Edgar Street Grid, future ESG housing developments and industrial complexes north of river. Good access to all major roads when link road is completed without having to cross internal city pedestrianised routes. Access to 16,052 households north of river against 9,326 households south of river.

 

The bus station is moved to Rockfield Road Car park as transport hub interchange. Access to trains, taxis, local and national bus services, cafe facilities with left luggage facilities, bike hire, together with extra long term parking for rail users and visitors using modular parking systems. See past topic here.

 

Council Offices, Bath Street (council owned) and existing fire station developed for essential housing. Central positions with good access for many residents to city services (prime position).

 

New life for redundant buildings - remember the Victoria Eye Hospital

 

and the old General Hospital.

 

This is my solution and the benefits available for the people who would be involved if such a plan was adopted by this council. Is this being endorsed by everybody or are there other public objections to what seems a sensible idea.

[megilleland]

Hereford Civic Society

 

Thursday 17 April 2014

Design Review Panels – Is there a need for a Design Review Panel in Herefordshire?  

 

Panels usually consist of a small group of mainly professional people who review planning applications and make recommendations for improvement (if any).  Design Panels are invariably used on larger schemes, such as ESG, where the design would have high public interest.  An illustrated lecture by Architect Angus Jamieson.  

 

Also due to attend is design guru David Tittle from MADE, the Midlands Design Review organisation and a Civic Voice trustee.  

 

All meetings at the Kindle Centre, by ASDA Supermarket, Belmont, Hereford, HR2 7JE. 

7:00pm refreshments for a 7:30pm start.

[Ubique]

Megiland , thank you summing it up ,I am sure that there is still some way to go but with Dippys enthusiasm ,very well supported by Poster who have the required knowledge means that this will remain in the front burner for some time.

[Cambo]

I think I'm in agreement with that summing up of yours megilleland!

[SON OF GRIDKNOCKER]

Excellent resume Megi.

 

Today I intend to delve into the topic of the long-promised Hereford Transport Hub, first mooted back in 2008 by Jonathan Bretherton's aide-de-camp Charles Pickles at an ESG Ltd presentation at the Ten Pin Bowl.  Six years in the planning, so it should be a pretty impressive package by now, possibly on a par with the £150M Parkway currently under construction at Bromsgrove in Worcestershire. 

 

I'll keep you posted, peeps!

[Ubique]

From BBC H and W....

Hope that this is not considered off post, I do believe that it has been mentioned earlier in this very long but important Post

 

Fire service boss Mark Yates returns back surgery funds

Continue reading the main story

Related Stories

 

Fire boss 'claimed for back surgery'

A chief fire officer has returned £3,000 of taxpayers' money used to help pay for private surgery.

 

Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue's Mark Yates put the payment towards a £5,090 back operation.

 

It was suggested he should consider resigning but the brigade said the partial reimbursement cost less than paying somebody else to cover his role.

 

Mr Yates said he had returned the sum because he did not want the issue to harm the service's reputation.

 

"It has become apparent that the payment I received has left some staff and members of the public disappointed," he said.

 

"It was never my intention to cause such feelings and I do not wish for this matter to cause further controversy and potentially harm the great reputation of the service - I have therefore repaid the £3,000."

 

Labour councillor Peter McDonald had said Mr Yates, who earns £120,000 a year, should think about stepping down after the news emerged in the Worcester News.

 

"The fire chief has done the right thing," he said.

[dippyhippy]

Well done Megilleland!

I think you have summed up nicely the main points of the case we would like to put forward!

There have been plenty of comments on this, lots of input from a variety of folk.....this idea seems to be the way forward. To me, it ticks all boxes. Its a realistic and feasible alternative to the plan which is currently on the table, and I truly feel it is worthy of serious discussion.

[gdj]

"It has become apparent that the payment I received has left some staff and members of the public disappointed," he said.

 

"It was never my intention to cause such feelings ...

 

 

Translation: " I didn't think anyone would ever find out".

[SON OF GRIDKNOCKER]

Good letter (with big colour picture) in today's Hereford Times from John Bothamley, Chairman of Hereford Civic Society.  Not only does he query Cllr Bramer's sudden change of tack in now suggesting that the present St Owen Street fire station should be demolished for housing (councill thinking previously being a car park), but he takes him to task in no uncertain terms about quoting this mythical 'of no architectural merit' phrase, as if this was the sum total of English Heritage's detailed analysis of the buildings.

 

I'm no fan of EH (in fact I stand alongsiode the great Jonathan Meades in believing the whole organisation is a costly super-quango - but that's another story), but quoting criticisms out of context and inside quote marks, to give them an air of verisimilitude, is not only naughty, but probably bordering on the dodgy.

[Cambo]

Yes it was a good letter by John Bothamley' but we shouldn't berat cllr bramer to much for changing his mind, as @ lest it shows he is capable of doing so & hopefully it will be for the better good for the boys home?…unless of course he's just throwing us all a massive curve ball?

[megilleland]

The Working Boys' Home in Bath Street is in the Central Area Conservation Area

 

What is a Conservation Area?

The Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 defines conservation areas as:

 

"areas of special architectural or historic interest, the character or appearance of which it is desirable to preserve or enhance".

 

A conservation area is an area of special interest, not only due to the buildings but also the interaction of the spaces around them and natural features, such as trees and open spaces. Together these form distinctly recognisable areas of quality and interest. Once an area is designated, we are under a duty to prepare proposals to ensure the preservation and enhancement of the area.

 

To apply for permission to demolish or partly demolish a property in a conservation area, please read the following requirements and complete the application form:

 

Requirements for householder application in a conservation area

 

item 9. Council Employee / Member 

 

You must declare whether the applicant or agent is a member of the council’s staff, an elected member of the Council or related to a member of staff or elected member of the Council. 

 

Serving elected members or planning officers who submit their own planning applications should play no part in their determination and such applications should be determined by the planning committee rather than by planning officers under delegated powers. 

 

For the purposes of this question, 'related to' means related, by birth or otherwise, closely enough that a fair-minded and informed observer, having considered the facts, would conclude that there was a real possibility of bias on the part of the decision-maker in the local planning authority. 

 

Application form for householder application in a conservation area

 

Finally a very good booklet extolling the virtues of regeneration.

 

Heritage Works - The use of historic buildings in regeneration. A toolkit of good practice 

[Cambo]

BREAKING NEWS Last ditch bid to save Hereford heritage site

 

1:37pm Monday 7th April 2014 in County By Bill Tanner

 

A LAST ditch pitch to save a Hereford heritage site will go straight to Herefordshire Council’s cabinet on Thursday.

 

Campaigners fighting for the former Hereford Working Boys Home, now the council’s Bath Street offices, say the site doesn’t have to be a new fire station when the current County Bus Station will do.

 

The council wants a land swap with Hereford & Worcester Fire & Rescue Authority (HWFRA) that sees the Bath Street offices making way for a new Hereford fire station.

 

 

In return, the council gets the current fire station site in St Owen Street as, at this stage, a car park.

 

On Thursday, cabinet will be urged to hold off on any deal and re-engage with the idea of a Hereford transport “hub†based around the city's railway station - as proposed in the initial stages of the Commercial Road-Edgar street link road plan.

 

The fate of the former Working Boys Home is the latest issue to challenge the council over its approach to asset disposal and decision-making.

 

Hereford Civic Society, which has lead much of the opposition to the land swap, has directly accused the council of not sharing its intentions in its haste to get a deal done.

 

 

Both the Bath Street offices and Hereford Fire Station are said to be unfit for contemporary and future operation.

 

English Heritage rejected an application to have the Bath Street offices listed.

 

Campaigners for the Boys Home will now make a direct pitch to cabinet on Thursday over the idea of a hub and its “immediate†consideration.

 

They make a case for a hub at the railway station freeing up council-owned land behind the city’s Odeon cinema for the new fire station - with three access points, the widest of which in Commercial Road being just metres from the eastern end of the proposed link road.

 

The Hereford Times has seen a copy of what cabinet will be asked to consider. It’s a plan that puts a “much reduced†county bus station close to the railway station and the National Express stop in a parking bay on Commercial Road.

 

With the co-operation of the four principal bus operators and Arriva Trains - Network Rail’s tenant at Hereford Station - it should, the plan says, be possible to “plan and execute†the move of the bus services to the station in parallel with fire station's design preparations and needs.

 

The pitch ends with a call on cabinet to set up a round table of all the interested parties that could make the “ visionary concept†happen.

[Aylestone Voice]

That is all very good but is it actually on the printed agenda for the Cabinet?

[Glenda Powell]

Who is going to present this to the cabinet on Thursday? I ask simply because only members of cabinet and group leaders are allowed to speak at these meetings.

[Cambo]

Oh cllr Vaughan-Powell so you are alive & well i hope? now maybe you can tell us all about wot you know regards the sale of bath street? as you were saying its sold or about to be sold yesterday? & I'll tell you who is going to present it to cabinet?

[twowheelsgood]

I would imagine the Councillor is bound by confidentiality issues and doesn't want to be hauled before a kangaroo council court as Cllr Hubbard was a while ago. Please don't take an adversarial stance against someone who contributes greatly to both this forum and the real world, it doesn't achieve anything, in my view.

[Glenda Powell]

yes I am alive and kicking! what I was advised is confidential therefore i cannot say at the moment. I repeat other than a leader of a group  can only put questions to cabinet on behalf of his group, but going on the many posts about this subject I can hazzard a guess who that will be!

[SON OF GRIDKNOCKER]

Unlike Cllrs Hubbard and Powell, I'm not convinced this is a 'done deal'.  A can of worms, yes; but you can always put cans of worms into the refuse (until this service is suspended).

 

A well-informed source close to the Plough Lane worker bees tells me that the Bath Street / St Owen Street 'land swap' has been actively discussed by HC and H&WFA since last September.  To this end, the fire authority's consultant designers have developed a scheme which is as near as damn-it ready to go in for detailed planning permission. 

 

So think on that peeps.  While we write earnest letters to the Chairman of Hereford Civic Society, and go and get books out of the City Library to mug up on who this John Venn person was, draughtsemen are beavering away to design H&WFA's new Bath Street Fire Station!  Mr Tony Johnson has probably even pencilled in the opening ceremony in his diary.

 

It behoves us all, fellow Voice posters, to e-mail the Cabinet about our misgivings over the way this business has been handled (or should that be 'man-hsandled'?).

[Cambo]

Is it really so why let only half the cat out of the bag that's just cruel? Now teasing us just won't do it would have been better if you had said nothing @ all? as this sort of behaviour implies only the underhand deceitful dealings of democratic elected councillors who have no respect for democracy or the voting public just cos we ain't in your club!!…well think on this councillor next year is election year so you better start listening??!!

[Glenda Powell]

cambo, it is obvious from your remarks to do not know me. I support my constituents and the people of Hereford, and if you took the trouble to read very early in this subject that I DO NOT agree with the selling off of the Bath Street offices. That said my constituents support me and has returned be to office every election, and I work very hard for them and they appreciate what I do.

I would take more notice of your comments if you did not hide behind a advitar!!!