twowheelsgood

We do appear to be in the middle of a perfect storm here; • Cllr Bob Mathews forces a review of a report put to Council which is £9.1m light on the accounting (and which we are subsequently told, “it doesn’t matter, the outcome of the meeting would have been the sameâ€) • Cllr Graham Powell is sacked from the Cabinet, we subsequently learn it is following a leadership challenge • Roger Phillips is brought back in from the cold to support Johnson (and no doubt to take the fall at some point in the not too distant future) • Peter Robinson is suspended • We subsequently learn from HT that 'a senior council officer has left his position', Glenda says its not Robinson • We understand that the Auditors report delivered to Herefordshire Council a couple of weeks ago last was extremely damning, which may account for suspensions and leavings • The SLR goes to Planning Committee on Monday - huge amounts of personal and private money to be made - a lot at stake • As ever, the hapless council tax payers, the voters, are kept in the dark as the cult of secrecy is maintained within Plough Lane. Come on Bill Tanner, we need you!

It's a council press release recycling the same story they've been pedalling (not literally) for a decade now - the council are not known for letting a few facts get in the way of a political ideal.

Isn't it Peter Robinson, Director of Resources and MD Designate of Hoople? We know he was suspended.

Indeed - from the ESG Herefordshire Ltd - 2008 adopted Master Plan; "No less than 1,000 housing units will be provided within the Urban Village. It is envisaged that within the Urban Village circa 90 units will be delivered to the market annually from 2010." So, 6 x 90 = 540 should have been delivered. Actual delivered = 0. Unfortunately the whole ESG/Hereford Futures debacle has now blighted the City Centre for the best part of 10 years, blocking all development that didn't accord with this grand plan, yet singly failing to deliver itself, save for handing huge amounts of our money to private developers. Now we see the Council going off on yet another tangent with the 'Hereford Emerging Vision' - here we go again ...

Expect the oft-talked up 800 homes to take considerably longer.

Perhaps it is National Mattress Fly Tipping week - just seen this on the Dinedor road whilst out for a ride, reported to the Council. 10 days ago it was builders rubble ...

If it’s the Safer Roads Partnership then fine, that is the Police and that's legit. The morals of it are a different issue. The SRP website states 'The Partnership is part of West Mercia Police and is responsible for the delivery of the police’s road safety strategy.' Colin says it's not the Police - then who is it? I still don't see how this is a scam.

Ok, it's not the Police. Still don't understand how it's a scam - if they have a camera, how is it linked to the DVLC database and what are they issuing? Parking tickets on private land is one thing - this just seems plain criminal to me.

Don't understand why this is a scam - if it's the police why would they run away from you? If not, who? Given that traffic speed is usually at walking pace along that road it must have been slim pickings.

Yes, Johnson is in charge of finance! Incidentally, the Council's 'What is the cabinet and who are the cabinet members?' page has different job roles to those shown on the 'Committee details - Cabinet' page - they shuffle around so much the webmaster clearly can't keep up. Never mind, it's only information for the public. Corporate Strategy and Finance - Councillor AW Johnson (Leader) (Conservative) Contracts and Assets - Councillor H Bramer (Conservative) Health and Wellbeing - Councillor PM Morgan (Deputy Leader) (Conservative) Economy and Corporate Services - Councillor GJ Powell (Conservative) Infrastructure - Councillor PD Price (Conservative) Transport and Roads - Councillor P Rone (Conservative) Young People and Children’s Wellbeing - Councillor J Lester (Conservative)

I don't see why - this is a public interest story, let's have the facts. That is investigative reporting, which the HT doesn't seem to do any more. Perhaps Bill Tanner will get on it over at Herefordshire Live.

… and don't forget the SLR has been recommended for approval by Officers.

Yes, that was taken from the roads maintenance budget, hence the continuing appalling condition of most of the main roads in and out of the City. An obscene amount of money - complete madness.

Only decent person on that Cabinet ...

I think they source the cheapest and we end up with the nastiest of 'design'. The only winners are BBLP - no change there.

There isn't any on site parking, so vehicle access isn't an issue.

Nothing in the supporting statements to indicate this is for students - it's far too good for that. These will be open market rental. Bring it on.

Well, you have to admit the Council have managed to turn an ugly building into a veritable eyesore since they moved in some years ago - I mean, what does the present (restricted) entrance in particular say about the Council's attitude to Planning and Conservation? Do as I say not as I do? But hang on - £1m?! Oh, of course, it will save £1.9million over 10 years, these things always do, or so they say. But £1m for a bit of cladding and a glass box?! Oh, of course, it will be done by BBLP - say no more. Except, what about the expensive refit of Franklin Barnes just a few years ago? What happened about that saving? And the one before that?

An hour to go a mile is optimistic in the City Centre ...

Only if gets rid of the traffic lights at the bottom of Foley Lane … as he said he would ...

dippyhippy, link here! www.herefordvoice.co.uk/topic/1365-herefordshire-council-has-created-a-new-£90000-a-year-role/?p=13955

What are the odds that the 'external' auditors are our old friends, the South West Audit Partnership, discussed here http://www.herefordvoice.co.uk/topic/1213-cabinet-10-april/?p=10752 A Companies House search shows a P Robinson as a director and also a director of PDLB Financial Consultancy Ltd.

Watched it - very interesting, lots of background info and some quite staggering amounts of our money being divied up to bureaucrats - 10000 of them are paid more than our PM for instance. And they get free viagra as part of their free health care ...

Given that the Ecology report was commissioned in July 2013, and the structural survey in July 2015, yes, this whole debacle was stitched up and shared out well before it ever went 'live'. Most Council's simply don't 'do' maintenance and Herefordshire is certainly no exception. It takes time and care and dedication to manage assets - as well as money - and too many of those responsible would rather sit in meetings and waffle than do the real work required. Look at any Council building, including schools (and the LEA pool for instance), and they're badly maintained, badly repaired, badly altered. It's easier to run them into the ground and then either get a capital grant to build a new one with 'partners' at twice the going rate or just sell them off for £1, as in all of the Council housing to Herefordshire Housing. Yet strangely, despite a reducing portfolio, we still need a huge, highly paid team to 'manage' property and other resources. Of course, no account is taken of the people who have to live or work or be educated or be cared for in these sub-standard buildings in the interim. It does make me very angry - we pay a lot through council tax for a service that simply isn't delivered and there doesn’t seem to be a damn thing we can do about it. Looking at this application in particular, some of the buildings are listed - the owner has a legal obligation to maintain them. But then so do the owners of the burnt out shell in High Town, and that's going well isn't it?

Why don't they reset themselves? Ridiculous that we are hobbled with 20th century technology!