SON OF GRIDKNOCKER Posted April 2, 2015 Report Posted April 2, 2015 With less than five weeks to polling day, there have been some remarkable changes across the city, doubtless to demonstrate what a fine administration is running this city and county - and deserves being returned on 7th May. Residents along Bodenham Road (now part of the hotly-contested Aylestone Hill Ward) awoke last week to discover that its entire length (and adjoining roads) had been yellow-lined, outlawing Tech College student parking. This week, a team of Balfour Beatty sign erectors put up a huge hoarding at the end of Commercial Road, announcing: 'Hereford City Link Road. Delivering jobs and housing.' What actual jobs the council will deliver with this pointless £25-million farce (apart from more jobs for the boys inside the cosy Plough Lane Lubyanka) is difficult to discern. But the housing claim is downright spurious. Of the 6000 units promised by porcine Jonathan Bretherton, precisely eight are now being completed in Conningsby Street.
dippyhippy Posted April 2, 2015 Report Posted April 2, 2015 This must be heralding the imminent arrival of The Urban Village then. If this is still on the cards?? Complete with 62 bed care home. I'm not sure that if my children decided to put me in a care home I would want to have an urban village on one side and the OLM on the other...... If I recall, 800 homes were promised. With the loss of 620 parking spaces...... those folks who work in the city centre will end up paying a fortune for long stay parking.
dippyhippy Posted April 2, 2015 Report Posted April 2, 2015 Just read that Bill Wiggins MP, has put his London home up for sale, with a guide price of £3 million quid. Perhaps he has an eye on a purchase in The Urban Village...... !
SON OF GRIDKNOCKER Posted April 2, 2015 Author Report Posted April 2, 2015 How can they justify spending - or borrowing - £25-million on our behalf (without asking us if we thought it was a good idea), to construct an 800-metre road that goes nowhere!
Glenda Powell Posted April 2, 2015 Report Posted April 2, 2015 I questioned that last year when I put it in the HT actually calling the road "the road to nowhere" and it has been known as that ever since.
dippyhippy Posted April 2, 2015 Report Posted April 2, 2015 Oh that's an easy one to answer GK....... they can't! There is no justification for this road, or this debt. You would get much more support for spending this sort of money, if it was on an Eastern crossing. They have spent the past four years not listening..... they aren't going to start now. Time to get rid.
Denise Lloyd Posted April 2, 2015 Report Posted April 2, 2015 Grid Knocker I think £25 million has already been spent what with Rockfield now a car park plus CPO's
greenknight Posted April 2, 2015 Report Posted April 2, 2015 Yes we love our no-where road projects ..this one appears lost but the proposed southern relief road must be blocked. I think it was ragwert that asked what could be done with the monies apparently found....well I think we have the answer now...a North/South Tram incorporating Rotherwas and nicely parked against a new railway station. Could we pitch a stop next to Hereford Station with a coach stop to boot???
ragwert Posted April 2, 2015 Report Posted April 2, 2015 Yes we love our no-where road projects ..this one appears lost but the proposed southern relief road must be blocked. I think it was ragwert that asked what could be done with the monies apparently found....well I think we have the answer now...a North/South Tram incorporating Rotherwas and nicely parked against a new railway station. Could we pitch a stop next to Hereford Station with a coach stop to boot??? That money must be used to build another river crossing even if it means the road system not being completely finished until we do have money to finance it. I'm also thinking that if the money from the link road was put towards the Southern link road we would pretty much have enough money to complete a by-pass
greenknight Posted April 2, 2015 Report Posted April 2, 2015 We certainly need another river crossing Ragwert but this current idea would be to create a road possibly finished in 2018 but without a crossing which might arrive if we are lucky well into the 2020's and that's just not good enough. In the meantime this supposed southern relief road would just serve as access for thousands of new houses. If the monies had to spent on roads then let it be spent on a road bridge somewhere on the east of the city with a bypass to follow at a later date
ragwert Posted April 7, 2015 Report Posted April 7, 2015 Well I parked in the Merton car park today and will be doing so tomorrow.As I had a few minuets to spare waiting for my lad I counted how many vehicles there were parked.Total (bar a few as I rush counted) 191.
ragwert Posted April 7, 2015 Report Posted April 7, 2015 This must be heralding the imminent arrival of The Urban Village then. If this is still on the cards?? Complete with 62 bed care home. I'm not sure that if my children decided to put me in a care home I would want to have an urban village on one side and the OLM on the other...... If I recall, 800 homes were promised. With the loss of 620 parking spaces...... those folks who work in the city centre will end up paying a fortune for long stay parking. There may be 620 spaces Dippy but two thirds of them were not being used today
Amanda Martin Posted April 10, 2015 Report Posted April 10, 2015 It's motherhood statements from people who either don't understand what they're doing or, like Cllr Price, "Don't give a sh*t"; built with money the Authority and central Government couldn't spare and with promises that can't be delivered on. I've seen this before in many towns and cities and I don't need a crystal ball of the future to predict that, at best, we may get around five years of marginal congestion relief before the problems resurface. In reality, there probably won't be a noticeable difference because the extra capacity will just liberate demand that was suppressed by congestion. I'm not making this up: it's a well established transport planning phenomenon that, in congested networks, the more road space you build, the more traffic you get. It's just that politicians are generally too craven to front up to the motoring lobby.
Maggie May Posted April 11, 2015 Report Posted April 11, 2015 This Link Road wont improve congestion on the A49 as it is going to create yet another set of traffic lights on Edgar Street where the current petrol station is (by CRW Carpets) even though this junction is just a few metres away from a roundabout. I heard about yet another junction on the A49 at a public meeting, where Jonathan Bretherton of Hereford Futures confirmed this would be a new traffic light junction. In case Hereford doesn't have enough traffic lights the new link road will have 3-4 sets of traffic lights along it length. I think Hereford is going for a world record on traffic lights/KM of roads in any city centre. It is perhaps because with traffic lights you get waiting traffic and stop/starts which will nicely increase the air pollution for the existing and new residents in the Edgar Street area. Perhaps the Council want to quietly kill off people who complained about the loss of trees on Edgar Street?
dippyhippy Posted April 11, 2015 Report Posted April 11, 2015 That's interesting, Maggie. A friend of mine lives on Edgar Street, and they had been told there was to be a roundabout, pretty much at the end of Prior Street.... where the garage is at the moment??? I wonder if anybody else has heard anything?
twowheelsgood Posted April 11, 2015 Report Posted April 11, 2015 No roundabout - just traffic lights, and with 5 sets along its length, including those at each end. Coming from Aylestone Hill, you will only be able to turn left onto Edgar Street - tough if you thought this was an inner relief road - further adding to the standing traffic at Edgar St roundabout, already the City's most polluted spot at the moment. Bless, we're going to get an 'otter resting place' though, in amongst all the 'future this' and 'future that', so that makes it all good. There is a plan here http://www.herefordfutures.co.uk/Content/NPA%2010393%20P301%20REV%20B.jpg
dippyhippy Posted April 11, 2015 Report Posted April 11, 2015 Thanks for the clarification, Two Wheels. Left turn only into Edgar Street?? Surely this is a ridiculous proposal??
ragwert Posted April 11, 2015 Report Posted April 11, 2015 Something even more interesting is that the BP garage is still there
Cloudberry Posted April 11, 2015 Report Posted April 11, 2015 I guess those coming from Aylestone who want to go north on the A49 can turn right into northbound Widemarsh St. and reach the A49 at Pizza Hut roundabout? So not being able to turn right into Edgar Street is only a problem if you have missed the Widemarsh St. turn? Otter resting place? How are the otters supposed to get there, and when they do, how will they know to lie down? The proposed canal basin (though probably not joined to other parts of the canal) keeps cropping up in various documents. Canal history is interesting, did you know this canal goes through a tunnel, but why is it a priority now? Who is going to pay for it? I would much rather there was a focus on things like repairing the Butter Market or features that really will draw tourists to Hereford.
greenknight Posted April 11, 2015 Report Posted April 11, 2015 Thanks for the map two wheels. I'm sorry I still can't see the benefit. Coming from Tupsley and heading North I would still continue to give the town a wide berth so travelling past the blind college round the back of the steel works then up to starting gate roundabout. I would avoid the crawl near Pizza Hut etc. However it might get interesting should the University campus start developing around the area.
twowheelsgood Posted April 11, 2015 Report Posted April 11, 2015 The new canal basin has been repositioned north of the inner link road, some distance from the original basin (Jewsons), which we were originally told was to be reinstated. The new basin is substantially smaller, in fact the otters get a better deal with a bigger land grab. The new basin is squeezed up against the inner link, a 'proposed development site' and the railway - an unlikely go-to leisure destination. As to who is to pay - who knows? dippyhippy - yes, the council do ridiculous really well!
greenknight Posted April 11, 2015 Report Posted April 11, 2015 Yes I'm not sure what this means for those with aspirations of linking up the canal system to Gloucester.
jeanharris Posted April 11, 2015 Report Posted April 11, 2015 How can they justify spending - or borrowing - £25-million on our behalf (without asking us if we thought it was a good idea), to construct an 800-metre road that goes nowhere! I really don';t think the council know what they are doing. I discovered that the link road from the A465 to the B4349 (which was an add on to the stand alone road) is going through the bottom of my garden. The council and Parsons Brinkerhoff did not even realise this was my garden and although there are 4 acres of meadow next to it they are not prepared to move the road over. They say it is because of the curvature of the road and that it has to meet with highway standards. In the bargain they are also destroying 3 ancient oak trees. I cannot see any reference in the SWTP to ecological reports being carried out on these trees which were once part of the ancient woodland. The road really has no purpose and is an absolute waste of rate payers money. They cannot look after the roads we already have. If it was going to serve a purpose I wouldn't mind, we really need a river crossing and a road to the A4103.. I know there are a lot of councilllors who feel the same way as I do so let's hope and vote for the ones that really care for Hereford..
dippyhippy Posted April 12, 2015 Report Posted April 12, 2015 Absolutely Jean, and welcome to Hereford Voice. Have you contacted The Hereford Tree Forum?? I'm sure they would be very interested to hear what Parsons Brinkerhoff have planned for three ancient Oaks.....
jeanharris Posted April 12, 2015 Report Posted April 12, 2015 Hi, Please do you have a link for Hereford Tree Forum. I have contacted so many groups and indivuals. Some have got back to me and offered good advise. I applied to HC with the help of the tree warden from Clehonger Parish Council to get a TPO on these beautiful ancient oak trees. As expected they turned down the application due to the proposed planning application for the SLR. These plans have not yet been submitted and hopefully with a new council WILL NOT in their present form, which is hideous, At this moment in time these trees are very much at risk and should be considered for a TPO.. It seems that some communities along the proposed route are arguing about where the route should go rather than pooling resources to oppose the whole idea. Of course we are aware that this proposed scheme has less to do with transport but rather to do with the Councils plan to dramatically increase the size of Hereford by selling planning permission on a huge scale to volume builders.
dippyhippy Posted April 12, 2015 Report Posted April 12, 2015 Hi Jean, I am worse than useless with technology, so I cannot provide a handy link! Just do a Google search "Hereford Tree Forum" They are easy to find!
jeanharris Posted April 12, 2015 Report Posted April 12, 2015 Ok thanks, will do. You seem to be on the ball with Hereford Voice which I am struggling with a bit. Once I log off I cannot find my way back. Maybe I will get used to it as time goes by.
megilleland Posted April 12, 2015 Report Posted April 12, 2015 Jean if you are trying to find your post click here under new content and then click on a time period and it will come up. You just need to remember the title of the topic. Or you can do a search for a key word at the top of any post you open. Enter word and select This topic or Forum.
dippyhippy Posted April 12, 2015 Report Posted April 12, 2015 Hi Jean, Megilleland has provided a handy link..... he's brilliant! With regard to navigating your way around the forum, I always head straight for the front page, then move around from there! Honestly, there is nobody more uncomfortable with technology than me..... and I have got the hang of it! It's great to have you on board, we are a motley crew on here, but it's a great place to share your views and find information!
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