Complaint The Town Centre is Disgusting

[Biomech]

megilleland the areas in your link all belong to Herefordshire Housing

 

 

 

Excuse my ignorance, but are you saying that all of these properties are nothing to do with the council and, in fact, a private organisation?

Or are you saying that HH is a division of the council and it's their responsibility?

[Glenda Powell]

Going slightly off topic, in 2002 Herefordshire Council did a stock transfer (all their housing stock) which transferred to Herefordshire housing therefore the majority of housing stock on Newton Farm belong to them, there are a further three housing associations which are Muir, kemble,and Marshes who together own all the housing stock between them on the estate.where each housing association houses are they are also responsible for the open spaces around them and to keep them clear of rubbish and fly tipping.

 

Megilleland - you have put photo up about the GWW area, because of all the problems with people being attacked I arranged with the then contractors AMEY to cut back the undergrowth, lower tree branches were removed ALL rubbish removed including down the embankment and the lights that were not working ment, it took them the whole of September last year before they lost the contract to complete the work. I went up there on a daily basis to make sure the work was carried out the people said they were happy to walk and cycle there again, and they felt safe!!

[megilleland]

Leaving aside what shops do or don't sell, the town centre IS disgustingly dirty and run down. The built environment - paths, roads, signs, street furniture etc is all dirty or broken, potholed, waterlogged, graffitied, and generally unpleasant. I am at a loss as to why no one responsible will do anything about it. 

 

I was talking to someone from the Enterprise Zone board recently - he was despairing of anything happening there because of Council intransigence. He said he's ashamed to show prospective investors around Rotherwas  because it's so dirty and rundown - and he's been told so by them - just take a look at the entrance opposite Thorn House - completely knackered road, overgrown verges, litter, flyposting - frankly, it looks a dump. He's pleaded with the Council to do basic housekeeping but NO ONE will do ANYTHING about it.

 

Another issue raised 2 years ago. No one knows who is responsible for which parts of the estate. All the housing associations and agencies just pass the buck.

[H.Wilson]

I caught yet another dog owner not picking up their dogs sh*t.The excuse is always the same I came out with no bag.

I filmed her too...Want to see the vid 

 

Yeah, shame her it's disgusting! You could also report her if you know where she lives to the council because it's an offence and a fine is due to her I think.

[Biomech]

n 2002 Herefordshire Council did a stock transfer (all their housing stock) which transferred to Herefordshire housing therefore the majority of housing stock on Newton Farm belong to them

 

 

 

So how does this work then? The council sold off the council housing to these private firms? Are these premises not subsidised by the council? How come people apply to the council(?) to get one of these free/cheap houses? Is it a case of these are cheap flats and the council pays the rent or part there of, to these private organisations? Forgive all the questions, I just don't know how it works. What I'm thinking is that if the council have a large amount of involvement in these places surely they have the power to do something?

[Glenda Powell]

The council sold ALL of their stock in 2002 to Herefordshire Housing for an undisclosed sum, the only properties the council is involved with is for the homeless. The Housing list  where people bid for properties is through Homepoint, again this is through HH and the other housing associations who allocate these properties, there is a banding system of Bronze, Silver and Gold status according to how long you have been on the waiting list. If you are in receipt of housing benefit you pay your rent to the housing association who property you are living in. Hope this helps!

[Biomech]

Thanks for that Glenda.

 

So a HH tenant pays the standard rate of rent to HH but the tenant themselves receives benefits from the council? The same way that someone might pay private rent yet receive single persons living allowance into their bank account. This would explain why "council housing" tenants say that the rate of rent is the same as private.

 

Last one - so how does this differ to renting "privately"? I mean, why do all of the HH style houses/flats have this connotation of supporting the poor, unemployed or single mothers? Is it simply that "private" landlords refuse to take on tenants in receipt of benefits? I read that HH received charity status a few years ago. 

[Biomech]

And just to bring things back on topic. Do the housing organisations not have a duty of care under some kind of environmental business regulation? A shop, for example, has a keen set of rules and regulations regarding environmental waste and refuse disposal.

[H.Wilson]

The problem is ongoing. No one in authority can see the rubbish and wants to do anything about it. That's why I pick it up every Sunday morning.

 

Remember the rubbish down the embackment on Great Western Way reported back in 2010 - it's still there. 

 

GWW1-11032012.jpg

GWW2-11032012.jpg

GWW3-11032012.jpg

GWW4-11032012.jpg

 

What a joke! 3 years later and it's still there, that is unbelievable!!

 

I walked along the GWW yesterday afternoon and I accept that CVP has done a lot getting Amey to clear a load of brush and brambles back there are still loads of overgrown area's and I would hardly feel safe, walking along here after the hours of dark, what ever happened to the extra lighting and possible CCTV that was discussed back in 2010?

[Glenda Powell]

Megilleland, if you would like to tell me (no pictures) where the overgrown areas are (bearing in mind that it is 4 months since I arranged for the work to be done and the very bad weatherwe have experienced) I will contact Belfour Beattie to get the area cleared. Once the trees around the lights was cut back, it was felt that no extra lighting was needed despite my insistance to the contary. I am still looking into CCTV for this area, and the funding for installation and up keep afterwards.

[megilleland]

Hello Glenda at the back of the properties along Charles Witts Avenue.

[Roger]

I was pleasantly surprised to see a 13 plate Balfour Beattie badged mini mechanical sweeper truck in my Aylestone area street today. That's on the good side.

 

On the bad side what on earth has happened to the road outside M&S on the corner by the bank? The road paving has been replaced with a huge splodge of black tarmac. Very unsightly. I assume a Utility had something going on under the road but what is the point of this fancy paving if you just throw some tarmac down as a repair when something happens?

 

I do concur as well about the doorways of Chadd's and similar shut shops that have unimaginable deposits in them. Stomach churning. It's the responsibility of course of the shop owner but in the absence of them doing anything (I suppose the owner might be sat in an office in London or somewhere) I think the Council should think outside the box and get a pressure washer in them for the good of the City.

 

There used to be carnage going on in the doorway of Franklin House when it was empty. Dossers/vomit ~ you name it. But the Council took it over and installed a shutter on the door. Money no object I suppose as it was now their building! 

[Biomech]

The road paving has been replaced with a huge splodge of black tarmac.

 

 

 

Indeed, I pointed that out the other week. I guess it's still there.

 

I know the 2ft C0ck and balls is still drawn on the window of Chadds and now I see the Shire Hall is 100% covered in scaffolding and tarpaulin.

 

Interesting, however, town was quieter today, McDondalds was at about 50% capacity which is low and there were plenty of empty spaces in Tesco carpark - have they started the new roadworks now? It would explain the lull as everyone stayed away last time I imagine they are/will do the same this time

[megilleland]

Speaking of dog mess I notice that Hereford Heckler is highlighting further crap here:

 

Hereford should be added to the national ‘Crap Towns’ list

Posted on February 28th, 2014 by Keith in Around the Shire

 

Sam Jordison and Dan Kieran certainly ruffled plenty of municipal feathers when they brought out their Crap Towns anthology more than 10 years ago. The ‘winner’ was Kingston-upon-Hull, supplanted in the second edition the following year by Luton. Hereford never made it into either of these editions. One wonders whether the dreaded duo ever ventured this far west. After all, it is easy to get lost after the M50 suddenly peters out at Ross-on-Wye.

 

So, in the hope that Jordison and Kieran are avid Heckler readers—and at the risk of causing Cllr Nick Nenadich’s Positive Hereford Facebook page to crash—here, in reverse order, is our checklist of the city’s 10 worst municipal horrors they should look out for.

 

10. City library and museum, Broad Street – 140 years old this year, yet it feels like it hasn’t had any TLC in all that time.

 

9. Walmart’s huge Asda supermarket – Just about the most inappropriate building you could think of to set on a beautiful river bank, together with its totally-unfathomable roundabout (reputedly ‘designed’ by experts from the government’s jack-booted Highways Agency).

 

8. The dowdy, half-empty Buttermarket, which Herefordshire Council is trying to con the city council into taking over (£1m required for roof repairs and at least another £2m for a top-to-tail modernisation. The city council’s annual budget? £734,960!).

 

7. The new livestock market, Roman Road – A lost opportunity to put up something architecturally impressive, instead of a timber-slatted mega-shed.

 

6. The Left Bank restaurant complex – Empty for more than two years (also said to have been mysteriously stripped of many of its fixtures and fittings) now with plans to reopen again as a restaurant and offices.

 

5. The burnt-out Card Factory/River Island buildings in High Town, an ugly shell for more than three years.

 

4. The pathetic replacements for the needlessly-desecrated avenue of 10 40-year-old European lime trees on Edgar Street, all so that shoppers will be able to effortlessly drive their cars into the multi-storey car park serving the Waitrose and Debenhams stores in the naffly-named Old Market retail quarter.

 

3. The hideously over-scaled Old Market retail complex – Looming above the Steels roundabout and described by one city councillor as ‘a blot on the landscape’. There is no truth in the rumour that Stanhope’s next rebranding exercise will be to name it ‘Jarvis’s Folly’.

 

2. Hereford cathedral’s extravagant and self-important ‘refurbishment’ of Cathedral Close. The money would have been better spent on a more visible and well-stocked foodbank.

 

1. The disgraceful removal of the Wolverson family’s popular Rockfield DIY store, now a surface-level public car park at a cost of more than £150,000. Any other local authority with vision would have earmarked this site as the location for a state-of-the-art transport interchange. Worcestershire County Council is building the £14m Bromsgrove transport interchange, scheduled to open in 2015. But of course Herefordshire Council doesn’t ‘do’ visionary projects.

 

Palladiola

 

And now the Council want to demolish their offices in Bath Street.

 

Hereford Civic Society committee member Gareth Davies will be on BBC Hereford and Worcester on the Breakfast Show on Monday 3rd March.  He has given a passionate interview about the former Bath Street Working Boys’ Home - due to be demolished to make way for a new Fire station. HCS has taken a stance on this. Together with the historic connections this prominent site is not the place for a Fire Station. We are in discussion with the Council which has agreed to consider HCS proposals. 

 

Note HCS next meeting:

Architects and Craftsmen 1700 - 1930 a survey of those responsible for creating Hereford, by David Whitehead, Historian. 

Thursday 20th March, Kindle Centre, 7 pm for a 7.30 pm start. 

 

230 years to create Hereford and a few council terms to destroy it.

[M185]

I recently visited family in N. Ireland, and it was noticeable in all the towns that I visited that the townsfolk really care about their environment . The streets were immaculately clean (without exception), I couldn't get over how well maintained the towns were. In Belfast, well placed signs warned people that they would be fined £80 for dropping litter - it seemed to work! My point is that yes, our town administration has it's role to play in keeping our streets tidy, but we also need to find a way of encouraging all the citizens of Hereford to take pride in our city and to respect it. Why do a large number of people seemed to think that the responsibility is not theirs...?

[H.Wilson]

I recently visited family in N. Ireland, and it was noticeable in all the towns that I visited that the townsfolk really care about their environment . The streets were immaculately clean (without exception), I couldn't get over how well maintained the towns were. In Belfast, well placed signs warned people that they would be fined £80 for dropping litter - it seemed to work! My point is that yes, our town administration has it's role to play in keeping our streets tidy, but we also need to find a way of encouraging all the citizens of Hereford to take pride in our city and to respect it. Why do a large number of people seemed to think that the responsibility is not theirs...?

I totally agree with you but I also think that the council/police should enforce the law and when people juts throw rubbish on the floor they should be prosecuted where possible. I witnessed a couple walking in front of me earlier today and the woman just threw an empty crisp packet on the floor! I am quite shocked how blatant some people really are, she did not have a care in the world. I wanted to say something but it looked like they were having some sort of argument so I decided not too. We have CCTV so why is this no being used and a police officer or CSO called when this sort of thing happens?

[Biomech]

Why do a large number of people seemed to think that the responsibility is not theirs...?

 

 

 

Because we're paying someone to do it and it isn't being done. You wouldn't pay a plumber money only for you to have to do the work yourself.

 

Give me back my money and I'll happily do it.

[Biomech]

We're constantly paying this council more and more money for them to do less and less.

[H.Wilson]

They will soon kick off if you don't pay your council tax if only they put the same enthusiasm into cleaning up our lovely city. 

[M185]

Because we're paying someone to do it and it isn't being done. You wouldn't pay a plumber money only for you to have to do the work yourself.

 

Give me back my money and I'll happily do it.

 

And you are quite right, but people need to stop being so slovenly by blatantly throwing their rubbish on the floor in the first place ( I like H. Wilson have witnessed people carelessly throwing their rubbish on the ground) - this is the sort of responsibility I'm talking about. Perhaps then our street cleaners et al might be able to concentrate on other tasks that will further improve the cleanliness of our streets.

[dippyhippy]

I walk under the subway to work most mornings (pretty early) - and most mornings the chap with his cart and brush is already there, cleaning and sweeping the mess and debris. He's there in all weathers, doing a job that many wouldn't like to undertake.

Everyday is the same. Everyday the rubbish and vomit are there.

 

Personal responsibility, is sadly, an unknown concept to many folk.

 

It's the same with spitting in the street, and cycling on the pavement, if on the spot fines were issued, and the culprits marched to the cashpoint to pay up , I think we would see a lot less of this.

Even a £10.00 fine would have an impact!

[Biomech]

I absolutely agree, we leave in a (western) culture where people are unable to take responsibility for themselves.Always looking for someone else to blame, passing the buck because they "didnt know" that you aren't supposed to put babies in microwaves. Blaming a lack of jobs on employers rather than their lack of qualifications.  It's beyond a joke.

[dippyhippy]

It reminds me of that old story.....

 

The Problem.

Everybody knew there was a problem. Every body thought that Somebody would sort it out. Nobody wanted to take responsibility for it, but Everybody realised the problem wasn't going to be resolved unless Somebody took the lead. Anybody could have offered, but in the end Nobody did. The problem is still there, and Everybody is losing out!!

 

Or something like that.....!!

[Biomech]

Indeed. But the problems we have have been identified and we're paying for someone to fix them. The problem is that they aren't being fixed. The problem is the council.

[paulinehodges]

I walked past the multi storey this evening. There is a litter bin there that has clearly not been emptied for some time. Rubbish is overflowing and going over the pavement. People are putting their rubbish in the right place but someone is failing to do their bit and empty it.

[Roger]

I walked past the multi storey this evening. There is a litter bin there that has clearly not been emptied for some time. Rubbish is overflowing and going over the pavement. People are putting their rubbish in the right place but someone is failing to do their bit and empty it.

 

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. 

[dippyhippy]

I've just remembered my other pet gripe....chewing gum! Or rather the discarding of chewed gum onto the floor - disgusting!

This should be added to the list of things which should receive an on the spot fine of £10.00!

Add this to littering, cycling on pavements and spitting in the street....they all drive me nuts!

[Biomech]

There is a litter bin there that has clearly not been emptied for some time. Rubbish is overflowing and going over the pavement.

 

 

This was one of the things that inspired me to start this thread. The bins by the ATM's outside tesco's were overflowing, people dumping more rubbish on top, there was a nappy, about 50,000 *** butts on the floor around it...

[dippyhippy]

Why is it, that smaller places such as Led bury and Hay, look so very much cleaner?

I can't see that they have significantly more funds - probably much less. Are they just more "houseproud" than us slovenly Herefordians, and take more pride in where they live?

Which company are tasked with the job of keeping these towns so neat and tidy?

Surely it can't be the same one??

Although I guess in the case of Led bury, it must be.

[Roger]

I walked past the multi storey this evening. There is a litter bin there that has clearly not been emptied for some time. Rubbish is overflowing and going over the pavement. People are putting their rubbish in the right place but someone is failing to do their bit and empty it.

 

 

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!