twowheelsgood

Its made all the worse by dirty streets with broken and sunken paving, huge puddles, broken, dirty and superfluous street furniture, litter and all that goes into making a shitty back end of a street market … except its meant to be one of our main shopping streets (for now at least). I am ashamed to walk through town these days.

I simply can't believe we've been shafted by Balfour when they're only just over 3 months into the contract - why can't we get tough with these people. Whatever is in the contract must stand. If they don't like it, call their bluff, let them walk and do what should have been done in the first place and that is revert to direct labour. Interest rates are almost certain to start creeping back up within the next 2-3 years - what happens then? Oh, of course, those responsible won't be around will they? They'll be cleared out in May 2015 and good riddance, but how on earth we dig ourselves out of the mess is a very big question. I've heard talk of a merger with Shropshire, but will they want us?

According to HT it was on the market for £1.25m, which was a fraction of what it cost to build and an absolute bargain I would say. At that sort of money its hard to see how they can fail.

I see the former Subway and the unit next door are to become a charity shop selling furniture - rather different to a real shop selling furniture. Ok, it own't be standing empty, but it'll be a temporary arrangement - it avoids the landlord paying rates on an empty building and the charity have a rates concession.

East-west (or vice versa) across this City on a bike is a nightmare - you have to cross the A49 and there is nowhere to do that safely and even as an experienced cyclist I have to think twice about crossing at the Barton Road junction, whilst using the Edgar St roundabout is suicidal. The new Greenway is a great addition for cyclists and pedestrians alike - lets see it extended westwards to join with the Great Western Way (off the Broomy Hill link).

Great work there Amanda. ESG Herefordshire Ltd changed its name to Hereford Futures on 30 June 2010 and is currently registered at a house in Ledbury. The info about the 250 year lease came from IOC if I recall, it's certainly how I heard about it. It was common knowledge well before the last election. British Land's website claims '100% British Land ownership' of the OLM site, 310,000 square feet.

Unbelievable. Worse still that they use a London firm - 'here you can' ignore local talent and send large amounts of money out of the county. We have a web expert or two on here who now doubt can advise what it SHOULD have cost.

I've looked at the drawings for this work and it's a veritable quart into a pint pot - everyone is aware of the general widths at present and yet the council say they are to introduce a tree lined central reservation, with cycle parking, whilst maintaining the same 4 lanes. The west bound lanes (towards the roundabout) will stay the same width and then the new central reservation. The east bound lanes (towards Blueschool St) are squeezed, effectively losing half one of the existing lanes, providing two rather narrow lanes. It should keep traffic speed down if nothing else. Also worth noting is that Service Yard B is accessed directly of Newmarket St, with no slip road, and so traffic will be further conflicted with articulated delivery lorries moving in and out of this yard, requiring both of the narrow lanes for the manouvere ...

No, it’s the 'crossroads' junction itself that is being named Widemarsh Gate.

The adopted ESG Masterplan indicated a 'canal park' to extend from Newtown Road towards the City, terminating at Jewsons yard, which is, more or less, where the original canal basin was (hence Canal Road). That vision/plan has apparently been dumbed down as the link road was designed, with a 'future canal basin' now shown to the north of the link road, at the back of the timber yard (what was Mansons). It doesn't take a genius to see that the link road could have been raised to form a bridge over the canal and the original route maintained.

Already being dissected at Hereford Council Budget for 2014/15 - Help us please! - merge threads?

The first thing I read was 'Manage demographic pressures/Improvements in Demand Management'. Written in the best management speak to ensure councillors don't have a clue what they're voting on. Just some highlights; Reduction in all regulatory services to the statutory minimum. Reduction in other regulatory services likely to result in increased antisocial behaviour, environmental degradation and community safety issues. Grass will not be cut as frequently and litter not collected as often. Remove funding from all libraries with the exception of Hereford, Leominster and Ross. Remaining funding withdrawn from Hereford Futures executive team and from the Chamber of Commerce for their Strategic Business Engagement contract. Reduction in infrastructure investment. Workforce reshaping. Fortnightly bin collection.

I'm not against a velodrome per se. I am against a single penny of public money being spent on it, in whatever form. If the County purse was bulging and everything was running at 100%, the roads were perfect and the elderly and disadvantaged had no worries about their care etc, etc, then, and only then, should the Council be looking forward to invest in new facilities. As we're unlikely to be in that position for the foreseeable future, leave it to the market.

37 and 38 are not shown as part of the CPO's for urban development (according to the Council's Compensation Guide for Owners and Occupiers). I can't find a planning application for 16 (to be turned into self contained flats) and it wouldn't accord with policy anyway - where has this info come from?

I'd support the idea of a library in Maylords - the additional footfall would be welcome by all of the shops I'm sure. It would need planning permission of course - and that’s where it all may go go a bit pear shaped - senior offices with their own agendas ...

Some people may recall (and others may not want us to) that Maylord Orchards anchor tenant was C & A. Yet once the benefits of rent and rates free deals had faded, they packed up and left. Maylords has never really recovered, and soon to lose TKMaxx as well.

The Solicitors changed their mind. The whole Left Bank building and adjacent offices (in the stables) are still empty and for sale.

Given Jim's reassurance that no Herefordshire Council money will be spent on this initiative, does it matter? Private funding will be forthcoming if its viable - that's for them to determine. The Swinden Playing Fields circuit that mgelliland quotes from BikeRadar above is part funded by the Council.

All of this routine maintenance should have been done PROPERLY through the summer - but of course it wasn't. In fact Amey had already stopped doing pretty much anything by then and what they did was shoddy beyond belief. So, once again we're subjected to floods because of blocked gullies, potholes hidden by floods, potholes made worse by floods and, as megilleland says, further damage when it all freezes. I've submitted a load of reports this weekend via FixMyStreet of items I reported 12 months or more ago that were never dealt with then and as a result are even worse now. As a cyclist, standing water on the roads conceals goodness know what - its genuinely frightening trying to move around the county at the moment.

Bravo. I can see now why Patricia is so keen to climb aboard, regardless of nettles, thorns or anything else ...

It’s a sales brochure, not necessarily telling the whole story. By showing lots of parking, its meant to entice prospective shops to rush to sign up - the fact that some of those spaces aren't necessarily available isn't allowed to get in the way of a sale ...

That developer drawing is a complete nonsense and should be disregarded. Wall St is not going - the exit onto Newmarket St (and right turn across) is clearly shown on the latest CGI on the front of HT. Quite how they are going to make up the space I'm not sure, but I'm guessing the central reservation will more or less disappear as it heads towards Edgar St and they may make the present pavement narrower to grab some space. The City wall is a scheduled monument - they can't just start moving things and digging willy nilly. In fact, I think the latest proposals require a variation to the planning permission, but no application has been made as far as I can see. Same old story of bad communication isn't it?

Which I believe the NHS paid for.

Smart move - 50 year lease. Dumb move - 250 year lease by the Council to British Land for the OLM site ... not fiction.

bobby47 - you've known me long enough to realise I don't kick around a number like 250 lightly. Its true, every word, and confirmed some while ago by a 2009 FOI request - Q4 On what basis was 250 year lease decided to be the most appropriate term? A The market for lease length was tested competitively and the response was for a 250 year lease term. This lease term gives the investment market the confidence to provide funding for large development schemes of this nature. It also attracts the `blue chip' pension funds and investment funds. Q5 Provide a copy of the cost/benefit analysis for the sale of the ESG land. A I understand that no specific cost/benefit analysis has been commissioned or taken place with regard to this sale. So they stumbled into it without any analysis as to whether it would benefit the County or not ... As for Jarvis, I'm not sure but he may be off the butchers hook, this time, as I think it was Roger Phillips in the driving seat at that time (recently departed from the Cabinet and its offshoots).