Saving The Working Boys Home *UPDATE*

[Cambo]

To right it is dippy unfortunately I can be some wot lacking in that department?!…wellies yes a good idea to wear them when it's wet especially if you happen to be walking through a stream…but no I wouldn't recommend wearing them if you happen to find yourself on a roof thou!!!

[SON OF GRIDKNOCKER]

@ Cambo:  BH Monday will be a wash-out.  Always is.  Stay at home and watch a vid.  I'll lend you my pirated copy of Harry B in the re-make of 'Buggsy Malone.'

[Denise Lloyd]

This might be considered a daft idea but as we all know Hay Festival is on this week.  It will be swarming with people with plenty of clout. If anybody is going to any of the events perhaps it would be a good idea to somehow put the word about.  National coverage is needed if any difference is going to be made.  Just a thought.  You don't have to go any event you just mingle with the crowds and people watch you never know who you might just see!

[Denise Lloyd]

Another very good organisation is the CPRE (Commission for the Protection of Rural England).  Whilst they are more concerned with rural areas they have a designated Planning Department and have written some excellent letters of objection.  One of the PA's they played an enormous role in was the Home Farm Belmont PA.  It is worth perusing their website and maybe making contact with the local chairman. 

[megilleland]

Council News 28 May 2014

Council committee appointments 2014/15

    

The council committee appointments for 2014/15 were confirmed at a meeting of full Council on Friday 23 May 2014.

 

The appointments will take effect as of 1 June 2014.

 

I imagine there will be some new faces on Planning Committee for the Fire Station application when it comes up. Hope they are up to speed on what is going on or will they follow the officers advice. What do you think?

 

[dippyhippy]

I would hope that whoever is tasked with this is fully up to speed.....but I have serious reservations.

[Cambo]

Yea there are 10 con, 5 IND, IOC 4 including cllr mark Hubbard & one LD!

Megilleland wot will there role be exactly?

[Denise Lloyd]

They listen to the presentations and depending on the mood of the day they vote yeah or nay 

[dippyhippy]

Succinctly put Denise!!

 

By the way, I have been mingling and people watching at Hay this week, but alas, I don't think I'm mingling with the right people......!!!

 

Story of my life really!!

[Cambo]

They listen to the presentations and depending on the mood of the day they vote yeah or nay

I see so it's our beloved who decided whether it is passed or not! So do they all have to agree it or is it just a majority needed?

[twowheelsgood]

Majority vote, chairman has the casting vote.

[Cambo]

Majority vote, chairman has the casting vote.

Thanks twowheels so there are 20 cllr's on the committee so if it's 10 votes for & 10 votes against then planning won't be granted??

[Ubique]

Cambo , I think you will find that if that happens the Chairman then has another vote , one presumes he/ she will vote in the same way as in the initial vote

[Cambo]

Thanks ubique your are a gent!

Must admit I don't like the sound of how this is gonna work thou especially as I noticed there are 10 conservatives on the panel including the chairman?! & given there leader has little or no love for heritage as he told me not to be so whimsical over old buildings a little while ago.I just hope some in his party take a different view on heritage & that of the memory of the rev john venn & consider the objections to granting planning which I hope there will be many? Seriously so as not to rob the city of an important landmark & send it the way of so many other iconic Hereford buildings!!

[Cambo]

So another question I have is who can object to planning for the purposed fire station & demolition of the old boys home? Anyone or just people who live in the central ward?

[Ubique]

So another question I have is who can object to planning for the purposed fire station & demolition of the old boys home? Anyone or just people who live in the central ward?

If you go onto the Council webste the information is there under Planning , it appears that anybody can object , but I am sure they have rules about a high number objecting - apologies that I am not savvy enough to give a link to their web page !

[Denise Lloyd]

Anybody and everybody can object either by writing or by e mail

[Denise Lloyd]

There is no guarantee that this PA will go to Committee.  I believe it is dependent on how much public interest there is and  the local Ward Councillor has the option of calling it in.  Some say the Planning Committee is non political but alas reality is it is and with so many Cons on the Panel I fear that the writing is on the wall for many PA's!

 

I had reason to attend 2 Planning Committee Meetings last year and without boring you all with too much detail it certainly was an education.  I urge anybody who has the time and inclination to attend one.  Dippy Hippy I am sorry your trips to lovely Hay did not bear any fruit in one respect but I am sure just going to Hay reminds you of how with careful planning a small town can develop and remain a pleasure to visit.

 

With regard to what to object to in a PA some advisers say stick to only material planning matters other say to put everything in but don't ramble too much try to stay factual.  If you put everything in it might just strike a chord with a voter who is wavering on which way to vote.  Anything is worth a try.

 

Slightly off topic but still to do with planning matters in the HT this week there is a small notice in the bottom left hand corner of page 26 regarding a proposed PA for 90 houses Hereford side of Clehonger.  The notice is entitled  Public Consultation does this now tick the box for Public Consultation? The notice refers you to visit website - www.your-views.co.uk/clehonger - this link does not work.  I emailed Gladmans (the developers) at lunchtime to say the link does not work and still have not received a reply.  Lovely to see such an efficient company are planning on changing the face of the countryside.  Sorry to put this on this forum but I felt it was worth commenting  on and probably not worth starting a fresh topic.

[dippyhippy]

Hi Denise!

 

Hay is my spiritual home.....and I intend to retire there, and go wandering in the Black Mountains whenever I feel like it!!

 

Going back to objections....given how mass petitions have been treated, ie several thousand people sign, but they are only counted as seven objections because they are "organised", It would be better to have as many individual objections as possible.

 

We need to draw up a short list of strong points ,which we can use to submit our objections.

[Aylestone Voice]

Any planning application will have to go to Planning Committee as it is on Council land

[twowheelsgood]

Slightly off topic but still to do with planning matters in the HT this week there is a small notice in the bottom left hand corner of page 26 regarding a proposed PA for 90 houses Hereford side of Clehonger.  The notice is entitled  Public Consultation does this now tick the box for Public Consultation? The notice refers you to visit website - www.your-views.co.uk/clehonger - this link does not work.  I emailed Gladmans (the developers) at lunchtime to say the link does not work and still have not received a reply.  Lovely to see such an efficient company are planning on changing the face of the countryside.  Sorry to put this on this forum but I felt it was worth commenting  on and probably not worth starting a fresh topic.

 

The link works now. Until the planning department deliver a core strategy with a five year housing plan, developers will continue to make hay whilst the sun shines (and whilst Mr Ashcroft stays at his post).

[Denise Lloyd]

Yes indeed how does he stay in his post when all around him have fallen on their swords!

[megilleland]

Planning Practice Guidance

 

Conserving and enhancing the historic environment - Non-designated heritage assets

 

Don't Councillors read this information and act on it?

 

and 

 

What is a material planning consideration? ie The scope of what can constitute a material consideration is very wide and so the courts often do not indicate what cannot be a material consideration. However, in general they have taken the view that planning is concerned with land use in the public interest. So that would rule out the private interests of a cabinet with 7 members?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[magicroundabout]

Anyone heard feedback from their observations on the fire station public consultation?

 

I haven't had an acknowledgement.

[dippyhippy]

As far as I am aware Magic, nobody has heard anything!

 

Silence......the calm before the storm!!!!

[Aylestone Voice]

You should not expect a reply. The responses that we made will be included in the documents submitted with the planning application

What should happen is that the scheme should be reviewed by them in the light of the comments made, but as I expect most of the comments were against it outright nothing will change. So as was mentioned some pages ago by TWG it is really just a box ticking exercise.

I knew that but also knew that every opportunity to comment should be taken

For me I will oppose the planning application unless we get a design that I feel is appropriate for the area - as likely as the Bulls getting into the Premier League!!!

[twowheelsgood]

The ward councillor will be pivotal in the process.

[megilleland]

Fire station being discussed today? No agenda on H&WFR website. 

 

Hereford and Worcester Fire & Rescue Authority

Date: Monday 9 June 2014 Time: 10.30 am - 12.30 pm

Location: County Hall, Worcester

[Cambo]

I wonder how that went? I think I'll ring cllr Lloyd- Hayes later & ask!

On another note bumped into cllr mark Hubbard earlier he informed me that he is not allowed to vote on the decision as he is the cllr for the ward although he is allowed to speak for as long as possible.

The other thing now maybe we could do is to start lobbying other cllr on the committee to objections for planning?

[megilleland]

Here's a report from The Hereford Time and The Ledbury Reporter following the Hereford and Worcester Fire & Rescue Authority meeting today:

 

Hereford Times: 1:12pm Monday 9th June 2014 in News By Bill Tanner

 

County keeps a second full-time fire crew - for now

 

HEREFORDSHIRE will have two full-time fire crews on standby until September at least.

 

Hereford & Worcester Fire and Rescue Authority (HWFRA) has this morning (Mon) deferred a decision on cutting full-time 999 cover out of Hereford fire station down to a single crew.

 

On a 13-12 vote, the decision will now go back to HWFRA in September.

 

Thousands put their names to a petition launched by Hereford fire fighters to support keeping the second crew.

 

That petition was, in turn, put to HWFRA this morning.

 

Members had been due to debate removing the station’s second whole time appliance completely or replacing it with a second retained appliance.

 

Today's decision means Ledbury and Tenbury keep their two retained appliances while the stations at Leominster, Ross-on-Wye, Bromyard and Whitchurch stay as is.

 

All the proposed changes came with deferral  options of between 2-5 years had HWFRA supported using reserve funds to keep either retained or full-time appliances at stations.

 

Members have been told that available reserves would only keep a second whole-time crew at Hereford  for 4-5 months while other options had the potential to save thousands of pounds towards an overall £767k savings target.

 

HWFRA already accepts that the cuts will compromise response times, but, maintains that, with the retained crews, enough back up is in place.

 

The petition also called for a referendum on whether one full-time appliance on  24/7 emergency standby at their station is enough.

 

Many of those to have signed said they were prepared to pay more in the council tax precept raised by the fire authority to keep current 999 cover.

 

An even bigger majority were unaware that a public consultation exercise on the issue had been concluded by HWFRA.

 

On this basis, the FBU calls the consultation process a “failureâ€.

 

The extent of proposed cuts to fire cover in the county - part of a cuts package applying across the whole HWFRA area - has been outlined previously by the Hereford Times.

 

As proposed,  full-time 24/7  first response fire and rescue fire cover at Hereford fire station would come down to a single appliance and no more than seven fire fighters on a shift.

 

Those seven - presuming all are present - would be the full-time 999 response for the whole county, including the manning of specialist appliances, with Malvern as the nearest full-time back-up.

 

The specialist options on standby at Hereford are an aerial ladder, an incident response unit, a Land Rover 4x4, an ultra heavy rescue vehicle, a water rescue team and a water rescue vehicle.

 

and

 

Ledbury Reporter: 2:16pm Monday 9th June 2014 in News By Ian Craig 

 

Fire cuts put on hold again

 

PEOPLE in Worcestershire could be put in serious danger if controversial cuts to the fire service go ahead, it has been claimed.

 

Although plans which could see both Worcestershire and Herefordshire left with just one full-time fire engine each were due to be decided at a meeting of the Hereford and Worcester Fire Authority today, the decision was once again deferred following a raft of concerns.

 

Members heard the scheme had faced serious opposition from members of the public and the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) - which presented a petition against the cuts signed by 16,200 people.

 

Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service's Chief Fire Officer Mark Yates said he was "personally and professionally disappointed" that the cuts were being considered, but added he felt there was little choice as the organisation needed to save £4 million in total, including £2 million from frontline services.

 

"This is not what we want to do but it is what we have to do," he said.

 

"I do not suggest and never have done that this will have no impact."

 

Cllr Richard Udall said it was "the darkest day I have known on this authority".

 

"We should not be in this position," he said.

 

"This will reduce response times and that will put people at risk.

 

"Even five minutes is a long time when your house is on fire."

 

A report presented at the meeting gave members three options to decide between : - Changing one of two full-time fire engines each from Worcester and Hereford to on-call as well as removing an on-call appliance from Redditch, Ledbury and Tenbury. Also to defer the removal of the engines in Worcester, Hereford and Redditch for three years.

 

- Changing one of two full-time fire engines each from Worcester and Hereford to on-call as well as deferring removal of on-call appliances from Ledbury and Tenbury for two years.

 

- Changing one of two full-time fire engines each from Worcester and Hereford to on-call, removing on-call appliance from Redditch, Ledbury and Tenbury, but to defer the changes for two years.

 

Although the plans were originally due to be decided in February, they were deferred until today's meeting after members agreed to move £485,000 from its £1.5 million surplus into its revenue budget.

 

Herefordshire County Council member Cllr Jim Kenyon described Monday's meeting as "the most important meeting I've ever been to in my life".

 

"This is the biggest risk to people's lives in Herefordshire since the Second World War," he said.

 

After several members said they felt possible alternatives had still not been properly explored the authority votes to 12 to defer the decision again until September.

 

Speaking after the meeting, secretary of the FBU for Hereford and Worcester Steve Gould welcomed the deferral, saying he and his colleagues would continue to campaign against the cuts.

 

Mr Wake said members of the fire service would work closely with the authority to address their concerns so a decision could be made in September.

 

Strange that Hereford Times not quoting Jim Kenyon as they did in the The Ledbury reporter. I wonder if any mention of the fire station was discussed as we had no agenda to follow. Maybe Jim will tell us.