GrowlTiger

Hereford is 100 miles from the sea. It has history. The building is listed and is a stone's throw from the Cathedral. The bright blue colour would be perfect if it was on a sea side frontage – which it is not! I cannot comment on whether or not the new restaurant in the premises will be of benefit to Hereford, but I can comment on the fact that as a previous resident of Herefordshire and a still frequent visitor I care about its aesthetics and the colour is totally out of keeping in a beautiful rural city. The problem these days with most senior officers and councillors is that they have no empathy with their surroundings and go for the cheapest/ugliest/inappropriate paint available. We have the same problem on Wirral – however here by the sea side where the Spread Eagle Blue would be uplifting, the Council’s only colour of choice is black. Black railings, black tarmac etc which again is totally out of character with its peninsula setting. I fear these days the people in posts of responsibility care not for the environment for which they are responsible, but only for their lucrative salaries and the personal perks they can derive from their terms of office.

Well, I am sorry but I have no sympathy for him either. Without a conscience he has made a fortune from manipulating the system and taking thousands of pounds of tax payers hard earned money. Before he left Wirral he signed off a Traffic Regulation Order on our road which happens to be unadopted and a Byway and was a quiet residential road to just 24 properties. In 2009 it suddenly became a speeding rat run when a radical surface upgrade took place without consultation with residents. We were promised the problem would be solved by an “Access Only†TRO. However, the Schedule which Mr Norman imposed on us allows access through and beyond the Byway to more than 75 other properties up to 5 miles away. The police cannot enforce it, the problem has become worse year on year and residents are still trying to negotiate a resolution with the Council. If Mr Norman had done what we were promised and made the Byway “Access Only†to the 24 properties sited on the Byway we would not still be suffering 6 years of traffic hell. He and his cronies plotted behind our backs and I wouldn’t believe anything the man said.

It may be of interest to those following the career of Mr Norman to know that Wirral Borough Council last week agreed the payment of over £256,000 of public money to yet another Super Director who has voluntarily asked to leave! The Council agreed this sum as “there were other opportunities he wished to pursueâ€. If you don’t believe what you are reading please view the Wirral Leaks site and Mr John Brace’s Blog. Wirral has focussed again in the Rotten Borough section of the most recent edition of Private Eye and is it any wonder.

Mr Norman was made “redundant†from Torbay in the summer of 2008 and left with a payment of £31,823 plus pension payments. He was employed the same year by Wirral Borough Council. In 2012 along with other senior officers he was suspended whilst investigations took place. At this time the then CEO decided to restructure the organisation. As a result Mr Norman’s post was made “redundant†and he left Wirral in October 2012 under a compromise agreement but with no case to answer and pocketed £146,000. To negotiate 3 lucrative “redundancies†in 6 years takes dedication particularly when his post in Hereford was so important his salary was increased substantially fairly recently. I wonder in which direction the gravy train standing on platform 1 at Hereford station is aiming for now.

Bloody brilliant Bobby – I couldn’t have come anywhere near to what you have said so eloquently although I did have a try.

Paul – you know I follow you and support loads that you do particularly in respect of the episode of those Officers on the Wirral who left with “no case to answer†and we know who those people are and one ended up in Herefordshire. However, you have never lived in Herefordshire and you are making incorrect judgements. I lived there for over 20 years and you are completely misjudging Herefordians. They are very caring people - far more caring than any part of Wirral. For one thing Herefordshire is not “the southâ€. It is not Hertfordshire with which it constantly gets confused. Herefordshire is full of lovely caring people. The good ones constantly battle against the Tory Toffs. Please don’t judge them too harshly. There were so many disappointed Lib Dems there following the election.

Well done Paul. Now that you have apparently flushed out Stella Shiu’s hiding place, perhaps you could also now locate the allusive “world renowned†developer behind Phil Davies’ fantasy luxury golf resort. We have been holding our breath over that one since last July.

Pleased you have happy memories of St Mary’s Dippy. It was in a charming setting. At risk of showing my age I worked at St Mary’s for a short time in 1989. A memorable moment was walking down the corridor towards the entrance when a female patient had a hissy fit, ripped a fire hydrant off the wall and threw it into the glass partition to the reception desk. A very scary moment. When St Mary’s closed these people with complex psychological problems were simply absorbed into society. Apologies too for going off the Victoria House subject, but they were both NHS buildings, one of which has been demolished the other likely to be. I wonder what happens to the money made from these sell offs of NHS land.

Thanks Dippy - I think I too am missing the important toggle or dongle or whatever for up thumbing. However 20 years working for the NHS in Hereford I have lots of memories some good, some bad, some sad - happy to share whenever.

I forgot to say that whilst working at Vicky House I came across some old ledgers from St Mary’s Hospital which until the early 1990s was a psychiatric hospital. The ledgers showed that in the early days of the hospital the patients grew vegetables, fruit, apples for cider and reared livestock which was used for their own food and the surplus of which was sold on. Everything in the ledgers was itemised from the cost of a pig going to market down to the last stamp on a letter. Something about which the now politicians and council officers could take note of when completing their expense forms! I sent the ledgers to the archive office and hope they are still there.

Oh dear I think the building to which you are referring is Victoria House in Eign Street - a building I worked in for many years and which was the Health Authority Headquarters. The original building was lovely, but its temporary extensions were just awful, so hot in summer and cold in winter and mostly falling apart. The grounds though were a haven for wild life. We fed the birds amongst which were woodpeckers. We also had foxes with their young and some semi-feral cats from the school behind. On one occasion the staff from Victoria House had to stop the Eign Street traffic as a duck with her ducklings arrived outside and wanted to cross the road. I gave up my tuna sandwiches to tempt her across the zebra crossing. In the car park at “Vicky House†we put her and her ducklings into a box and took them down to the river Wye. However, I remember that health and safety caught up with the old, beautiful chestnut tree at the entrance to Vicky House from which the local school children collected conkers. Sadly, it was decided by the wise board of directors that the conkers were dangerous and the tree was cut completely cut down – a very sad day. It will be another sad day when/if the old bulding is demolished and that city green space for wildlife gone forever.

Bobby Bill Norman has the ability to come up with all kinds of contrivances –he is a “law†unto himself. From my experience of him on Wirral he sided with councillors and although nothing can be proven, allegedly they “supported†each other and of course no minutes were taken. If you ask for evidence you are told only “high notes†were recorded. High Notes are not available to the general public as allowing the public to know what the officers and councillors are discussing in private may inhibit their ability to discuss “openly†anything in the future. Of course Wirral is now the most open and honest Council in the country – much improved and winning accolades. Pass me the sick bag!

I thought the part about working together with residents a particular belly laugh. The very last thing officers want is to face a resident to discuss a disputed local issue. They push something through without consultation and convince themselves their decision making is faultless and above criticism. In reality it is more likely to be based on lies, corruption and mal administration. I have noticed in recent FOIs that WBC is refusing to provide information about the content of officers’ meetings on the basis that putting the information into the public domain may inhibit officers’ future ability to take decisions. If they have nothing to hide why would a little openness and transparency inhibit them?

I may be dim, but the only post that I know about in Herefordshire council worth £90,000 was that of the new Head of Legal Services who first gained access via the Wirral Gray Train and then went south and upgraded himself to a new (governance) post in Hereford. I trust this is not what we are talking about. Or are we? Flamboyant explain yourself please.

The way it’s going I wouldn’t be surprised if John came across an invoice for a consultant hired by WBC to advise it how to deal with him! (Appropriately redacted of course.) The lot of them together haven’t got the brain or integrity of John Brace and the one thing they hate is the truth.