Roger

I did glance at that item earlier elsewhere. The receipts look decidedly old .... But if you toggle around the link you can see that stuff was purchased at PC World in Hereford. I think you could buy it cheaper on the web. But I suppose it might be keeping shop staff in a job.

Parking meters will come in I've no doubt. The Council is skint. But you will always find someone to feed the meter with coins and the ones that don't will get a ticket. Just another desperate attempt to claw cash from anything motorised that needs to park for a few seconds ...

I don't think I've ever paid to park in Hereford. Other than a quid to park for 2 hours at Morrison's and then getting my money straight back by making a purchase. Everyone does that as it's always pretty full in the car park when the shop itself isn't. There is no direct question about 'on street' parking charges/meters on the survey because the Council knew the answer they would get. Although I sympathise with less able drivers I think there are too many disabled spaces. Plus they can also park for up to 3 hours on double yellow lines. By their very nature these lines are usually painted because the road needs to be kept clear for a reason but they just seem to be a magnet for blue badge holders.

Wardens are on all sorts of shifts to extract money it would seem! Quickest ticket I have personally witnessed is one alleging that the car was parked illegally for 22 seconds. It was a car in a goods vehicle bay. Union Street. The warden wasn't interested in the fact the driver was dragging a huge gas bottle off to the balloon shop. I think it's gravitated to a situation where you get the ticket and then see the adjudicator. ...

Good evening! That is probably why they are kicking the living daylights out of the parking! I was in town today and there was a warden in Gaol Street car park and 200 yards later there was one in Kyrle Street slapping out a ticket in the car park opposite the dentist. The whole budget seems to hinge on parking revenue and enforcement. Plus I suppose the Council tax .... But I still can't understand some of these Management salaries on the Council .... They are maintained obviously!

Nando's is coming to the new development but I don't think it's arrival will challenge this 1.30 rule ... They don't stay open late from my experience ...

Liverpool Library opened in May last year. I only know as I'm in Liverpool all the time ... And that Literary Path does look amazing. The reality tho is that the Liverpool Council met last night to discuss £42M cuts to services ... to include support for disabled/elderly/children being slashed ... http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/re-read-updates-tonights-merseyside-budget-6776442

Tesco's was the 1st proper supermarket in Hereford (it used to be where Maccies in Commercial Street is now - with no parking) and at the time I think I appreciated it's arrival. It's getting very tired looking now tho. I have a greater problem with whoever authorised that monstrous grey building behind All Saints Church. The one by the Bowling Green Pub. It took longer to build than Petrocelli took to have his house built in that 70's tv series ~ although I don't think Petrocelli finished his house.

I don't think there is anything wrong with Chinese slate. I've got it through most of the ground floor of my house. It lasts superbly and certainly was not cheap. But I suppose I haven't got hundreds of people walking down my hall every day. The issue is obviously down to 1. Was the arty slate fit for the purpose that it was being put to (was it thick enough for a start) ? 2. Was it fitted correctly. I do know those brass letters started to come off almost immediately after they were laid. First it was one or two then it started to happen more and more. You only needed an element of looseness to creep in and the things were off. I don't know how easy it is to stick brass to slate, or indeed if the best adhesive was used, but I do know that water was getting in and weakening the bond. It is disappointing that all that money was spent on this fancy paving for it to all fall apart in what, in the big scheme of things, is five minutes. But if you look at the bigger picture the High Town Scheme involved laying a shed load of light grey coloured stones. So obviously having done that you wheel in two minutes later all manner of drinks vans leaking liquid all over the place, multiple rides leaking oil and food tents dripping fat everywhere. Hence the horrendous staining all over the place. However you probably won't notice that most of the time as the town centre is rammed with wall to wall tents making it look like a giant car boot sale. The Council could probably rent out another couple of tents if they removed that scaffolding in front of the bombed out remains of River Island so I'm surprised they haven't progressed that issue! Plus you've got that massive blob of tarmac poured onto the road on the bend outside M&S in the middle of the grey road paving ~ which itself started to get loose weeks after it was laid because of heavy vehicles turning on that corner and putting a strain on the stones. Very attractive!

This hole got filled in Moreland Avenue today. I'll keep you updated as to how long the 'repair' lasts ... Not very long is my guess as it looks like some fella just threw a bucket of tarmac down and levelled it off with the sole of his boot ...

Image via Free Radio ...

It's like 30 seconds from the new flagship retail sector and at/outside the newly (ish) revamped cash collector Council car park cash cow.... Obviously the thinking is not quite joined up yet! I think tho there's an opportunity to analyse what's in the bin to find out what people are buying ... What's that bottle on top of the bin for instance?

Just noticed that the bin you allude to was photographed Pauline... I found that on the internet ~ posted today. I never took the picture meself ... It does look rather full!

Yeah ... Saw that ... I dunno exactly what the 'right deal' is but Luke must have a reason to throw money at a shop in Widemarsh Street or he wouldn't bother ... what with his internet business ... Has he negotiated some sort of preferential deal with the business rates? Rent? I only ask as I don't know!

Anyone got any pictures of this hole in Caple Avenue?

I was there at 5.45 pm tonight ... southbound ... Started queuing at The Courtyard then having eventually got to the island there was no traffic at all in the third lane .... Carnage everywhere else tho!

To be honest I have no issues, generally, with the litter bin emptying in the City. Certainly where I live (Aylestone) the bins seem to get emptied daily ~ even when they are hardly full. Also when I visit the red dog bins they are very often empty. Indicating a recent visit to remove the contents.

Yup ... Seen those! People will be aware that you can report these holes online but in the City you must get at least one Council truck going down roads by Dunelm, or wherever, every day of the week so their own employees could report these holes.

This is the 'fixed' pothole in Penn Grove Road by the College Road junction. The picture is slightly deceptive because it still looks like a hole when the Council pothole map clearly shows it as a blue dot which means 'fixed' ...

I thought that his comment was a bit daft to be honest. Not playing ball to his satisfaction on here so he'll possibly take his ball elsewhere to play. I thought the responses were reasonable, and credit to Mr. Willimont for dipping into the debate with his hands on knowledge of the situation, but to threaten to leave the forum after the grand total of two posts must be some sort of record ....

I don't remember this being a problem last year. Maybe this current 'roost' is a random event and they won't come back next time.

I went southbound over the New Bridge today so as to get to Asda. The traffic was backed up in the outside lane of the bridge as far as Bridge Street. ie the whole length of the bridge. This was about 14.45 hrs. Having crawled along for the best part of ten minutes I found the answer. The filter lane that goes to Asda, through the middle of the roundabout, only had a green phase that let about 5 cars through until the next lengthy wait on red. Having done my shopping I was then trapped for 10 minutes getting out of the car park as the light controlling the shop exit onto the roundabout only let about 5 cars out (per lane) before going back to a long wait on red. These lights did not seem very 'intelligent' to me!

I know some of the old Chadds shop is occupied but a big portion isn't. It's location, size/shape (and lack of any parking) is probably why it's unoccupied and it's a very uninviting sight to behold as you enter the City Centre from the Aylestone direction. I may have pointed out before that I am no fan of these pop up market tents in town either. It just seems that the empty shop units are left to rot whilst we have a replacement which is no different to the tat that was previous sold at the outdoor market. ie like the stall that sells 50 million sorts of phone covers all of which seem as cheap and nasty as each other.

The figures were released yesterday afternoon ... http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/only-handful-regional-newspaper-weekly-titles-increase-sales-nearly-100-leave-abc-altogether Hereford Times now has an average weekly circulation of 25.502 copies which is -16.7% down on last February's figures ... Hardly surprising as the cover price jumped 50% from 80p to £1.20 ...

I never knew the Council had a starling distress caller to lend out! ... I'm not sure if this is a joke or whether Marc Willimont (head of environmental health at Herefordshire Council) is sub letting this bird control device out as he said previously that the Council would not get involved ... 'Marc Willimont, head of environmental health at Herefordshire Council, said: "Starlings are protected wild birds so Herefordshire Council will not take any action to harm or control them."' ~ is the quote from the bbc website ... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hereford-worcester-26340928