twowheelsgood

The scheme was designed and presented such that a proportion of them (500?, I can't remember) could be built without a bypass, which will run alongside the site. I went to the exhibition and studied the proposals in some detail at the time. Access via simple t junction off Three Elms Road just past Annetts Furniture. No doubt BBLP will insist on traffic lights to boost their income.

P180927/XA2

Seems unlikely that such a large scheme on such a sensitive site can start without any checks and balances from the controlling authorities, not the least planning permission. I recall a large strawberry grower building a similar new road to serve a new caravan shanty town the size of Kington on the edge of Leominster, all without planning permission, which then took several years, and a lot of our money, to get removed through legislation (and the road remains, albeit through not such a sensitive site). The Council need to jump on this immediately - I'll be raising a query with the ward councillor. Edit - I see that planning permission was granted in 2015, and an application was submitted in March of this year to deal with the conditions and this is undetermined. As such, the applicant is not entitled to start work and has in fact rendered his planning permission null and void by doing so. The Planning Officer is Rebecca Jenman - I urge readers to express any concerns directly to her.

I'll bite ... b47, get yer claw hammer out ... UKIP, can't be bothered to read this as they're a tainted and spent force. There is a desperate need for a new middle ground party, a dystopian future under Corbyn's Labour (with Abbott!) is threatened and fills me with dread. The alternative under back stabbing and devious Tories doesn't seem much better and the Lib-Dems continue to sail rudderless. Brexit has well and truly put the nails in the coffin of modern politics and exposed all factions for the devious self-serving liars they are and it's left the general public completely disenchanted with the whole damned thing. We need a benevolent dictatorship to straighten things out ...

Bravo b47. Just 4 years ago, they spent £4m on Plough Lane and £3m on the Shire Hall, plus unspecified amounts on the Bath Street offices (now apparently needing £3.4m to be spent for the Uni) and the Bulmers Lab (Nelson House) plus of course £2m on Blueschool House. Back in the day when Herefordshire Council wasn’t infested with self-serving managers in cahoots with preferred providers and looked after itself reasonably well, when building work was required, it went down the time proven route of inviting builders to tender and all costs were managed by an independent Quantity Surveyor. It wasn’t perfect, but it worked. Now it seems (in fact we know, following Blueschool House) that there are no controls in place and contractors seemingly charge whatever they think they can get away with. In the wake of Blueschool House, I asked why were the costs not being independently analysed by a Quantity Surveyor to see if we were getting what we were paying for ('best value' in their speak)- I had no response. It does not cost £250k to fix a bloody roof! We are being robbed - Councillors, do something about it!!

Absolutely terrible - what on earth are Architype thinking?! When they put so much effort into the adjacent former Boys Home, this is baffling - it looks like a first year architectural student's doodle's and it should never have been let out their office. It does nothing, quite literally, save for blocking the views out of the building and screening the front elevation, which is a quite attractive modern classical design (with the centre entrance panel completely buggered by the Council over the years, obviously, but that can be put right). When it rains, water will stream down the boards onto anyone or anything below and then splash, stain and wear away the pavement. Just ridiculous and a complete waste of money to even get to this stage. Why is the current planning application for change of use saying there will be alterations to the building?

Agreed, the building is hideous, and far removed from the expensive design guide and masterplan the council commisioned to give Rotherwas some cohesiveness. That said most of what has been built recently is pretty basic/grim/pedestrian, so we should not be surprised. The last 'joint venture' the Council did was Blueschool House, and look how that turned out (and still no report on where the money went). We're endlessly told there is no money for essential services (despite having paid for them through Council Tax) and yet £3.5m is seemingly found for this. Skewed priorities methinks - the market should pay for this if they want it, not the Council Tax payer.

Given the planning application confirms no external extension or alterations, and the building was extensively refurbished in 2013 by C J Bayliss for the Council, it begs the question what on earth are they going to spend £3.4m on? Is the gravy train already rolling?

Slightly off topic, but the Northern Magazine building at Rotherwas has been surrounded with Heras fencing recently and I noted today that 'Integral' signs were going up - next, S C Joseph vans no doubt. Something very odd about this ongoing and very lucrative arrangement.

Wrong, Coldwells is a care home, hence being listed on the carehome site linked above.

My mother in law has been at Coldwells for several years - it is widely regarded as the best in the area and was recommended to us by our GP, whose own father was there. We've been very pleased - the staff are local, fantastic and can't do enough to help and they will take dementia sufferers (not all will). The accommodation and facilities, following an extensive overhaul last year, are better than ever and there's a busy calendar of activities and events.

Looking at the open ‘ablution areas’ - these are used by Muslims before prayer, so I surmise this will become a mosque, albeit a small one. They indicate that prayer will start at 6am and finish at 11pm - not sure what nearby residents will think of this. A shockingly mediocre scheme that pays no heed to Building Regulation fire and other requirements.

That'll be as a result of some of the 'value engineering' that was done to bring the cost down!!

At least £1m - niceties such as fees (£110k to the architects alone) have conveniently not been included. Whilst, typically, SWAP and the Council have concentrated on procedure, or chronic lack of, seemingly no one has looked at the actual building cost - is £2m reasonable for the work done and if not what steps can be taken to recover some of the monies. Given that architects HUB provided an accurate build cost of £1,060,000, then it is baffling why the cost doubled for what is a pretty small job. Why has no one pulled in a Quantity Surveyor to go through all of the costs and challenge the contractors to justify them? That money, our money, has gone somewhere and for sure it's not in that building. As an aside, as for the contractors, HUB were appointed on the say of one officer, no checks, no tender, no demonstration of value for money and no contract either. Truly shocking.

Sort of right - there was a last minute stand off on the sale of the land - the developers demanded a £0.5m reduction or they would walk away from the whole proposal. Council duly rolled over for tummy tickling as the developers knew they would. I believe the site was valued at £30m at the start of the ESG debacle and that it was sold for less than a tenth of that to British Land.

I braved the A49 Newtown Road northbound this morning - flew through, none of the usual delays - work in progress consisted of 4 workers leaning on a fence talking. However, coming back was rather different - traffic is diverted onto Yazor Road and Whitecross Road, more than doubling it's load. Result - nothing moving. At all. Gave up at the end of Yazor Road, turned right and headed back across the top of the City. Nine weeks of this - the cost to business will be massive - I lost an hour which no one will pay me for.

"aimed to be established by September 2018 with 60 students" They'll fit in Franklin Barnes - job done.

Newtown roundabout is 'around the clock'. Which rather puts into perspective the Lugg Flats work where Western Power said they couldn't do that because it would disturb residents (despite there being no houses).

From Hereford 2020; ROAD WORKS | Here's a list of road works which are being undertaken in the upcoming months in Hereford City Centre, due to the construction of the new Link Road: A49 Edgar Street Date: 30 October until 4 November Times: 8pm – 7am Works undertaken: resurfacing and network upgrade Traffic management: lane closures and diversion Newtown Roundabout Date: 11 September until 10 November Times: around the clock Works undertaken: widening works Traffic management: southbound lane closure and diversion Farriers Way and Newtown Road Date: 5 November until 11 November Times: 8pm – 7am Works undertaken: resurfacing Traffic management: closure of northbound lane at Farriers Way and Newtown Road closure at the roundabout Newtown Roundabout Date: 12 November until 19 November Times: 8pm – 7am Works undertaken: resurfacing Traffic management: temporary traffic lights A465 Commercial Road and Aylestone Hill Date: 19 November until 26 November Times: 8pm – 7am Works undertaken: resurfacing Traffic management: HGV closure and diversion

I cycled down Skylon View (towards the City) at about 5.30pm and there were 2 police cars, a fire engine and some builder types at the gateway at the end. No one was looking very alarmed - just standing around chatting. They've recently started working in this area and so something may well have been uncovered, but nothing was closed off. I'd gone in the other direction at about 4pm and nothing was happening then.

Perhaps the contractors will play the 'unforseen circumstances' card - it's worked like a dream on the Lugg Flats. I guess the Council won't be fining their own contractors in this instance though - more likely paying them handsomely for 'extras'.

That's the Lugg Bridge that was due to open yesterday and then suddenly wasn't due to 'unforeseen circumstances' and now may open at some random time in the future at least several weeks away? What an utter shambles - lesson's really aren't ever learned are they?

No, it isn't. The offender would still be liable for a Fixed Penalty Fine for riding on a pavement.

Please stop calling these people criminals - they are not. Cycling on the pavement is not a criminal offence. The Chief Police Officer has the discretion to issue a Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN) to an offender with a £50 fine. That does not make you a criminal nor give you a criminal record, assuming you pay the fine. Other offences such as riding through red lights also carry a FPN fine. Accepted this is a simple summary of the law and a case may have extenuating circumstances which may make it more serious. FPN Guidance says "The introduction of the fixed penalty is not aimed at responsible cyclists who sometimes feel obliged to use the pavement out of fear of traffic and who show consideration to other pavement users when doing so. Chief Police Officers who are responsible for enforcement, acknowledge that many cyclists, particularly children and young people, are afraid to cycle on the road, sensitivity and careful use of police discretion is required". The Home Office guidance was re-affirmed in 2014 by the then Cycling Minister Robert Goodwill, who agreed that the police should use discretion in enforcing the law and recommended that the matter be taken up with the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO). ACPO welcomed the renewed guidance, circulated it to all forces, and issued a statement referring to "discretion in taking a reasonable and proportionate approach, with safety being a guiding principle. Further, the Highway Code is not a legal absolute, it is not of itself a statement of the law, but a combination of both advice and mandatory rules which apply to all road users in the UK. In the interests of balanced reporting, can we have thread titled 'Highway Code Doesn't Apply To Some Motorists Then?.

It's perfectly legal to cycle in High Town and Commercial Street before 10am and after 4.30pm.