Colin James

They have now disappeared from the skyline...

Hereford Traffic Hmm...deja vu

I told them that they could use my photo's as long as they added a credit to HV

What an interesting story, sort of reminds me about the flat that they found in Paris undisturbed for 70 years recently found.

The road was not closed the whole time, that's why the guys from DES were hanging around and at one point one of the windows exploded and glass just missed us, I was not expecting to able to get so close, you can see one of the guys sweeping it all up either on the video or in one of my photo's. H&S would of had a field day here today lol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNuOfgENsPA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmxWrHxmI_E

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnQOLRiF55U http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZ_kRyBgAAk

Des, have started to demolish the flats in Beattie Avenue... Plenty of photo's and video below.

This has all gone very quite, does anyone know who this person was or the circumstances around this death?

Bad luck Terry, lost yet another final...you will have your day I'm sure but you were out played by an on form Adrian Lewis.Still £25,000 not that you need the money.

Congratulations to my mate Terry Jenkins reaching the UK Open final 2014. Good luck, I will have my fingers crossed for you mate!

I just hope that people clean them from time to time, I see some disgusting wheelie bins on my travels. I wash mine out once a month with a bucket of hot water with bleach in it, I usually take it out near the drain and get my mop or broom around it all, then I hose it clean. There are some horror stories on this forum. Also I hope people find room for them, not sure where I will put another wheelie bin.

So it has cost almost double the amount of money just to administer the claims than the claims themselves at £170,000 :Cha ching:

Well done Chris being appointed with this new challenging role with your experience previously as a care worker you are the best person for the job. Good luck and if there is anything I can do that would help please just ask.

11.I need a briefing on the implications of any staff redundancies and the cost saving if they were potentially retrained within BB. HC pays for the resources used in the delivery of service no more than that, so if retained by BBLP they need to find work for them. 12.What is the break down of tupe staff currently at BB and what T&C are they using. The detail is in the TUPE regs TUPE list and various T&Cs To summarise, the TUPE list at transfer contained the following: Ex Herefordshire Council - 127 Ex Herefordshire Jarvis Services – 23 Amey Wye Valley – 34 Amey Services Limited – 69 LG SOM (Amey) - 21 13.Cross role training at BB This question needs clarification 14.What is the current vehicle fleet and who maintains it. BBLP have fleet management role Please see attached Annex 06: Service Information: Fleet Management. While BBLP are not carrying out all these functions at present, it is planned to move towards this model. A list of HV vehicles is also attached. Please note that the transit vans for the Community Equipment Store are soon to be transferred to the new provider. 15.Reactive and Response teams cost's and call outs Depends on service order, preparedness is ordered on a lump sum basis, response on a cost reimbursable basis, this reflects appropriate risk apportionment, ensures preparedness and does not constrain the necessary response. 16.Pot Holes how many claims have been made by the public how much has been paid out who is responsible going forward. The provider is responsible for claims that are paid out as a result of their default. The attached is a summary of our highway claims history for the last 12 months. Number of claims 1334 Amount paid in compensation over the preceding 12 months £91,501 Spend (including staff salaries and outsourced assistance) on work relating to such claims £170,000 Total cost of compensation and staff salaries £261,501 17.What is an average cost for a standard two lane road recovered to a distance of 100m with Tarmac to an industry recognised depth Estimating work, do have benchmarks see the inputs into this model for details on rates. But please note the revised cost base in the new contract. The Public Realm Services Contract being based in Cost not Rates, as such the price to HC will change from there rates going forward. We are working with BBLP re the estimating that is needed to establish and agree target costs. 18.What is the average distance and depth covered by a full load of a Tarmac lorry. Tarmac deliver in 20T loads normally, but can be 44T. Distance and depth does depend on treatment. 19.Does this council still own any grounds maintained equipment if so who Services and at what cost is the hire to BB. BBLP provide this equipment The cost to HC of plant for Parks & Open Spaces from 1st Sept 2013 to 24th Jan 2014 was £188,800, including vehicles. 20.Recycling of street waste? P127 "reuse and recycling" It can be done and the council has targets re this Currently most street cleaning waste is deposited at the Council’s waste site at Rotherwas where recycling and re-use is the responsibility of the Council’s waste disposal contractor. Work is underway with waste management colleagues to take this forward. 21.Apprenticeships how are BB doing on this aspect The Public Realm contract was procured in accordance with National Skills Academy for Construction guidance, and Herefordshire Council was approved as a Skills Academy under this initiative in January 2014. As such, the commitment to creating apprenticeships is being monitored and delivered as part of a project including a range of skills and employability opportunities. BBLP is in the process of working with council officers to deliver these commitments, with the first cohort of 5 apprentices scheduled to begin work with BBLP at the start of the next academic year in September 2014. As well as creating new apprenticeship opportunities, BBLP has 7 apprentices who were transferred from AMEY and are continuing their studies. In addition, an event for subcontractors is to be held in March, which will include guidance on taking on apprentices. 22.How are BB doing ref page 138 highway defect completion timescales We have a performance report For the period 1st September 2013 – 31st January 2014 39,000 defects were identified (the vast majority as a result of regular inspection) a fourfold increase compared with the same period in 2012-13; of these 28,000 have been dealt with. Currently 97% of Category 1 defects are dealt with within 24 hours, but only 33% of Category 2a defects are dealt with within 28 days. The volume of defects is the issue here and this is directly related to the underlying condition of roads. 23.What is the average cost per winter grit and have we safeguarded sufficient stock of rock salt. We have a full cost model and we have sufficient stocks. 24.Call centre enquiries how they are fed into the system at BB "pot hole list and general" Currently requests for service, whether originating through Info or from the website, generate an e-mail to BBLP; BBLP enter the service request into their asset management system, Confirm, which manages the allocation of work and resources. Emergencies are immediately passed by Info to BBLP by phone. 25.Complaint handling (ciu) hfd shire how is this holding up I believe there has been big reductions in staff and loss of experience are the faults filtering through to BB in a timely manner I understand the public is very dissatisfied. Complaints are dealt with in accordance with the Council’s policy and timescales. Levels of satisfaction and dissatisfaction have been improving. 26.Could I have site of the tree survey. This can be arranged 27.I think we should have a council Woodstock pile area that we could take wood to be processed then sold on to generate income to improve the budget spent on tree services, could something like that be inserted into the contract if agreeable. It could be if the business case for it ‘stacks up’. 28.Is there a rental cost for the 5 depots and are business rates applicable and is there any under occupancy. There is a rental cost, note business growth ‘third party work’ etc. The leases are being finalised and market rents are charged through the contract, these are a pass through cost with no mark-up being paid by HC. This enables the true cost of the service to be managed through the contract. Business rates are applicable and are handled through the contract in the same way as rents. 29.Who checks the inventory at those depots and at what frequency. The Council’s inventory at the depot’s was identified prior to occupation by BBLP and is identified in the leases. BBLP are required to maintain/replace any inventory. The inventory will be checked at the end of the lease. 30.Can any path/ highway improvements be carried out by any contractor other than BB i.e. crossings, traffic calming measures or community initiatives without any financial penalties. There is no exclusivity in this contract, so no financial penalties for HC using others to deliver works. That said, we need to be aware of the value that partnership working can bring, and how that might be undermined by using others without good reason. We also need to fully understand the VFM in making procurement choices, be that a choice to use BBLP or any other. I have attached the original document that Councillor Jim Kenyon provided below Cllr Kenyon Contract Management queries V1.00.doc

Jim asked me if I would post the responses to his questions. Cllr Kenyon Contract Management queries 1.Strategic partnering board "who sits on it"? No cllrs This detail is in the contract data Director EEC (Geoff Hughes) Assistant Director PBC (Richard Ball) The Service Manager (Clive Hall) No Cllrs sit on the board, as the management of the contract is not a political function. 2.Need site of the annual plan for this year A presentation to members is planned, also a report to Cabinet member / director re internal governance There is no annual plan for this year (2013-14); due to the contract starting part-way through the year. The plan is being developed for the future in accordance with the contract. 3.Clause 31 ten year extension seems stacked in BB favour who sets the performance acceptability and can that be adjusted during the length of the contract. These clauses allow for a ‘rolling extension’ to be awarded in return for continued acceptable performance. They are designed to keep the provider incentivised throughout the contract term, as opposed to ‘winning all extension in one chunk’. The term can be reduced in performance not maintained. The Employer also has options to reward more, and might do so to: Give time to re-procure; In return for an investment (fleet, roads); Some other reason that is not foreseen at this time. 4.So far have there been any dispute's with BB and if so how many and what cost. No disputes, but early warning and compensation events have/are being processed. To date 16 Early Warnings and 22 Compensation Events have been raised by both parties. Of these, 11 Early Warnings have been closed, or are in the process of closure at a value of £40,163, which is made up of increased costs for commissioned design and build works, and 5 remain live. Of the 22 Compensation Events, 3 have been cancelled, 10 have been accepted and closed, at a valuie of £182,480 and 9 remain live. 5.Direct fee % is 9.83% Sub-contracted fee is 9.83% unless open book 25% less or less £10,000 or less spent in one year net of vat (my info) Management agent fee 2.60% (my info) The fee is 9.83% the application of this through the various payment mechanisms should be understood. The payment mechanisms are, lump sum (a tendered price, adjusted for the following years, in each year’s annual plan), target cost (pain/gain share, this incentivises improvement), Cost reimbursable (the cost +fee). With Lump sum the risk transfers to the Provider, but the Employer will pay for the risk in the lump sum. With target cost the risk is shared, this is a healthy partnership approach. In cost reimbursable the risk is retained by the Employer, this works well for ‘events’ that are difficult to quantify prior to them happening, such as the response to severe weather. 6.What is enhanced third party margin 0% up to £25,000 then 50% A way of HC benefiting in enhanced third party work (work for other clients) and the way that this will spread their business overheads. 7."Good industry practice" how do we bench mark against who? There are various benchmarks, nationally, regionally and locally. Some to be developed further, for example with other BBLP contracts. For example there is on-going benchmarking using the National Highways and Transportation annual survey (approx. 75 LAs) and participating in their CQC (cost, quality, customers) pilot. Aligning performance measures with other BBLP contracts will enable us to compare. 8.Performance Indicators "Need to See" agreed list (seen) Note strategic and operational indicators, purpose of each and the fact that these are not the only measures used in the delivery of service. Strategic measures are used to help determine future contract extension. First measurement period 2014/15 – 2015/16. Operational measures are used to determine payment of 25% of their fee percentage each month. Other performance measures are being developed by BBLP using their asset management system (Confirm) which is accessible to the Contract Management Team. 9.Recognised sub-contractors where is the list and how do local business's get on that list. Sub-contractors used by the previous provider formed the basis of the BBLP list; further suppliers have been added to the list since the 1st September. BBLP have consulted the Hereford and Worcestershire Chamber of Commerce on the potential of the local supply chain and will also be holding a supplier open day in March. Subcontractors are required to go through a stringent vetting process before they can be engaged on the Herefordshire Contract and BBLP are actively providing assistance to some of the smaller subcontractors to get through this process. The Councils Contract management have full visibility of BBLP approved sub-contractor list. 10.With new and existing staff what responsibility would Herefordshire council have regarding pensions etc TUPE applies to transferring employees, see schedule 7 for detail . This is a complex area. BBLP have admitted body status, but broadly comparable pension schemes can be provided. Note pension fund shortfalls on termination fall to the Employer; this is equitable way of dealing with this risk.

I remember going there to disco's when I was a kid, sad to see it go.

Well the end of on era, St Francis Saviour no more...

From this weeks HT Quote taken from this HT article

Thanks Paul, it was good to talk on the phone the other day and I am looking forward to working together where possible in the near future, hope to se you Monday.

It's coming down...

Yes if I saw obvious abuse I would put an end to it.