twowheelsgood

Josie Rushgrove appears to have been promoted to Head of Corporate Finance in the wake of PR's resignation. You could spend hours lost in the disjointed labyrinths of the Council's website trying to find who the monitoring officer is - I did, and I couldn't.

So, we finally get the press release dated 5 September published on the IOC website today; 16 September 2016 /0 Comments/in News /by PaulNeades Director of Resources/Section 151 officer resigns. On May 23rd 2016 members of Herefordshire Council were informed by the Chief Executive that the director of resources, Peter Robinson, had been suspended pending independent enquiries that were deemed necessary. The chief executive emphasised the importance of maintaining confidentiality and discretion while the enquiries were ongoing. Failing to do this would be, he said, potentially damaging both to the individual concerned, and to the integrity of any subsequent investigation. On Friday September 2nd 2016 the chief executive formally announced that Mr Robinson had resigned as Director of Resources (S151 Officer) and Hoople MD designate with immediate effect in order to resume his career in interim management. We the undersigned wish to make it publicly known that we have never been fully briefed in confidence about this very serious matter. It is our understanding that the only people who have been involved in this investigation have been the chief executive, the leader of the council and the council’s monitoring officer – with support from outside investigators. It is our considered opinion that it should be the norm for the council’s employment panel to be involved in such a matter, or at the very least for the panel to be consulted before a final decision is taken. Elected members are understandably concerned at this turn of events but we recognise we are constrained by law as to what we can say publicly in such circumstances. We do however feel that now the officer has resigned, Opposition Group Leaders – as elected members’ representatives, should be allowed far more information. Otherwise the general impression will continue to be “it’s all going on behind closed doors again…… so much for transparency and accountability… nothing changes†Cllr Jenny Bartlett Cllr Terry James Cllr Bob Matthews Cllr Anthony Powers Opposition Group Leaders on Herefordshire Council 5 September 2016 I think we can safely assume now that those 'outside investigators' were, and continue to be, the Police.

Terrible decision - classic 'do as we say, not as we do' move by this shallow and corrupt council. The offer of free money, no matter how bad the outcome for the built environment, was always going to be too much for them resist. The Ward Councillor should be ashamed of herself. Let's see how long it takes before this version of the customer service centre closes all together.

Yes, I was being ironic - Kington is a good example of why it is a bad idea.

I don't understand Quay House moving - they're already in a recent purpose built surgery, but the others I can see struggle in ill suited old buildings. Of course, putting them as far away from housing as possible is rather a snub to patients, but hey, it worked well at Kington didn't it?

Yes. As far as I am aware, he eventually failed to complete on the deal a couple of months ago - although you'd be hard pressed to know that from the Council - and the jewel in the crown continues it's slow decline.

Poorly presented with scant information, insufficient to have even been registered, but the Council seem to be keen to grab every pound from application fees, no matter how badly put together the applications are. There is a significant objection from the Highways Authority - this section of the A49 (T) has three times the national average rate of accidents - adding an access for such a use could well increase this further. They have asked for more data and information from the applicant.

Yes, the article is there and it's quoting from a joint statement - where is the statement in full? Normally when a statement is issued to the press it gets edited down - the full statement should always be made available on the issuing party's website - this is a golden opportunity for the opposition to join forces and demand a vote of no confidence in Johnson and his cabal.

The building is to become the DSS 'job centre plus' or some such name - moving from Berrington Street. The Council will share some of the ground floor reception area. Basically, the Council, as landlords, are getting the incoming tenants to 'do it up' on the cheap (and very nasty). Planning and other departments will move to Plough Lane, via a stay at the Town Hall.

£98kpa x 5 months = £41k, but then on top of that is pension contributions and employers NI, so you're probably not far off £50k. Then of course there will be the uplift of the Deputy's salary for 5 months, the £30k recruitment fee (can we ask for a refund?), endless reports and officer time and then another load of money to recruit a replacement (and with the Council's reputation, no doubt a sweetener will be needed to get anyone here, plus house moving costs etc etc). Let's call it a £200k debacle. So much for austerity. The HT refers to a 'joint statement' - where is it? The opposition groups REALLY NEED to get their act together and make some capital out of this - IOC website dormant since June, Independents dormant since the election!

They were both submitted - the top one is the original application, which had a load of objections and even the planning officer was struggling to keep down his lunch, the second one is the amended scheme going forward for approval.

The red formica'd facelift horror is going to Planning Committee on 14 September, recommended for approval, despite the conservation officer having concerns and strong objections form the City Council and the Civic Society. Ward Cllr Polly Andrews supports it ... her view is that, as someone else (ie Government) is paying for the lions share, the Council should grab the offer and not worry too much about what it looks like, this attitude seemingly regardless of the impact on the built environment, which will be around a lot longer than transient central and local government departments, and, come to that, councillors. Such is democracy I suppose - it barely functions in Herefordshire, as we know.

Approved, despite conflicting and inadequate information. Be interesting to see if they bother complying with the conditions. Enforcement no longer reply to me regarding the ongoing unauthorised signage in Commercial Road.

Those illustrations are of a shared space for both pedestrians and cyclists, so, no, it won't be illegal. It's the same as the Greenway, Bishops Meadow, Asda riverside, Lines etc.

There is a statutory requirement for a Section 151 Officer in every local authority - arguably the single most important post in the Council, with huge responsibility for corporate management, financial management, supporting the democratic process etc, etc. Here in sleepy Herefordshire Council, this has been the job of one Peter Robinson, who came to us from Bristol Council with a well reported, shall we say, history - google it, you might be surprised, clearly those doing the appointment didn't. Well, as we know from the HT, PR’s whereabouts have been a mystery for some 5 months now, seemingly triggered by Cllr Bob Mathews asking some pertinent questions about accounts for the link road, which were some £10m adrift, prompting wider wider questions to be asked, not the least by the HT in the form of a FOI request to the Council, which wasn't answered. As we know now again from the HT, a secret meeting had been called by the Council for last week - press and public to be excluded - to discuss the conduct of a senior officer. On the eve of the meeting, we understand PR resigned, having been on paid gardening leave for the last 5 months. In his absence, we must assume that the statutory responsibility fell to his Deputy, Josie Rushgrove, and we hope she had her salary increased for the additional burden. We now understand Ms Rushgrove herself is to take an extended leave for personal reasons. So, with no Section 151 Officer or Deputy, who is running the ship? We've seen councillors sitting on their hands yet again and not reacting to this latest scandal to engulf the Council. No doubt this latest one has cost us dear, yet no one is called to book. A rudderless ship will in the end flounder on rocks - is anyone looking out for them?

Rather than chit chat, the actual proposals are here http://councillors.herefordshire.gov.uk/mgIssueHistoryHome.aspx?IId=50018528&EVT=113 Look at Appendix A, panels 2 and 3 for all the Belmont Road proposals. No trams included. Johnson has already made it clear it won't happen on his watch, no matter how good an idea - they can only think new roads and traffic lights.

If no one bought anything Christmassy until November, they might begin to get the message.

Amazing what can be achieved with a 2:2 in Drama.

Would that be cancelled because a deal has been done and a very large sum of our money is bang paid into a private account?

No, worse, Michael Hainge.

From the HT; A consultation event on future plans for the former council offices on Bath Street is to take place next Thursday (September 8). Herefordshire Housing, which has purchased the property from Herefordshire Council, is offering county residents the opportunity to drop in and talk through the proposals for the site. It takes place at Brierley Court on Turner Street, Hereford, between 4pm and 7pm.

Co-incidentally, I followed up my complaints to Planning Enforcement a couple of weeks ago as Freedom Church continue to abuse the planning system with no application submitted and of course the Spread Eagle left half painted. Yet another enforcement officer has left, and I've had no reply.

Wow, that is looking serious - when they're done with him, will we have an investigation into the competence of those that shortlisted and employed him? This persons history is there for all to see quite literally by a simple online search. As for Amey, we must not forget the employee who set it up left with a payoff of £250k, leaving us with the shambolic PCT merger as well. We've been picking up the pieces and paying for it ever since, and its not done yet, with the £40m court case still pending. On his appointment Councillor Roger Phillips, then leader of Herefordshire Council trotted out the classic "We felt that if we were to be the best, we needed to recruit the best." (Hereford Times). (In fairness to the HT, it is run on a shoestring - I'm told that the Council's press office budget is double the cost of running the HT - Council paying for the best, obviously).

Good question - it's a typical Council way of doing things, to bundle a group of actions under a 'banner', yet nowhere on the www.hereford2020.com does it state what or even who Hereford 2020 is or what it is meant to be doing or achieving. On the Facebook page it merely states 'Hereford is changing. To help Herefordshire prosper there are a variety of schemes underway to improve Hereford city' I think we can categorically say that none of Dilligaf's wishes will come to pass, indeed the number of traffic lights will increase exponentially with the Link Road, as there will be dozens of the damned things on there. We can also say that some cats will get fatter, councillors will pop up for ribbon cutting photo calls and disappear again equally quickly, consultation responses will be ignored, our road infrastructure will continue to crumble and the Council's debt will continue to spiral upwards. Worth noting though that 2020 is one year after the elections of 2019 - voter apathy gave us the current incumbents, let's hope that doesn't happen again.

First port of call is definitely the ward councillor - Polly Andrews? - nothing will happen/change without their support. Have you seen any concrete proposals or been consulted about this or is it hearsay? Establish the facts, put together cohesive reasons to argue against the parts you don't like, meet your Councillor and present them in such a way as to gain her support. By the way, the Edgar Street Grid is long dead and buried - it is the Council managing the Merton Meadow/Link Road debacle.