Someone has told me Asda are going to start charging for parking there. Surely this will make Belmont Avenue chaos even worse? When will they put double yellow lines in front of the new building. There is a near miss on that corner daily. Imagine turning right out of Belmont Court with cars parked outside the new building.. they don't follow the Highway Code regarding parking opposite T-junctions. A head-on waiting to happen at school-run times. The parents have no consideration, just want to get out as quickly as possible. Vehicles coming from Belmont Road have right of way, but are consistently made to run on the left pavement as the parents won't/can't give way.

Hotel Chocolat is due to open on High Town Hereford.

The store will be located in the former Vodafone shop in between WH Smith and Marks and Spencer's.

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Company Overview

Angus Thirlwell and Peter Harris founded what was to become Hotel Chocolat in 1993, with a simple goal - to make a better type of chocolate available to UK consumers bored by the mediocrity of that available in supermarkets and on the high street. Originally a web and catalogue business, in 2004 the first of many Hotel Chocolat stores appeared on the UK high street. There are currently over 80 stores in the UK, 2 in Denmark and concessions in John Lewis stores nationwide as well as David Jones in Australia.

Authentic, wholesome ingredients are foundations of the company’s success - a position that is strengthened by its privately owned cocoa plantation, The Rabot Estate in St Lucia, where Hotel Chocolat grows its own fine flavour cocoa.

Duck Pond Day - Sunday 24th June 10-4pm.POSTPONED

We need volunteers! 

We will continue to paint the remainder of the metal fence, put up two new signs and generally clean up the surrounding area to include weeding and clearing over grown bushes etc.

Please bring garden tools and garden bags etc like last time.

We will try and arrange refreshments again, I am sure that Castle House Hereford will help out, they have always been excellent.

When I was drafting my submission to HC about the proposed Super Surgery, I took the trouble to consult one or two experts in the medical care field. I showed one of them the artist's impression of what is proposed for Station Approach. The response was: "This is simply hideous! Don't these people realise that an essential criterion of any sort of medical building - be it a giant hospital, a rural hospice or even a small dental surgey - is that it should be perceived as friendly and welcoming."

I am attaching an image of a building that, to my mind, is far more friendly. What's more, its roofline adds interest and is not a million miles away from that of the Royal Mail Sorting Office on the other side of the Link Road.

THE Lord Lieutenant of Herefordshire will unveil an arts project inspired by Trafalgar Square’s Fourth Plinth this Friday.

Hereford City Council has been co-ordinating the delivery of the project which will showcase the work of students and local artists.

The new community project which partners with Hereford Skate Park and the Hereford College of Arts hopes to promote art and culture and showcase the talent of local residents.

Lord Lieutenant for Herefordshire The Dowager Countess of Darnley will officially unveil the first sculpture, the Rotherwas Angel, at 4pm on June 22.

Brian Stephens, skate park trustee and founder, said:

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“The skatepark is now regarded as one of the best in the UK and as well as attracting local users people visit the skatepark from all across the country.

“Among the skateboarding community there is a rich vein of extremely creative people, and the culture is well know for its art work, films and videos.

“The trustees wanted to give skateboarders an additional opportunity to exhibit three dimensional art work and this is now realised with the two plinths.

“In Trafalgar Square there is what is known as the ‘fourth plinth’ which displays a new sculpture on a regular basis. “The plinths at Hereford Skatepark are Hereford City’s own version of this.”

 

The plinths will catch the eye of people as they enter and exit the City on the A49. Information about the artists and the sculpture will be found in the gallery in the Boom Box on the skate Park.

The first sculpture created by students from the Art College is based on a brief relating to the Home Front.

Hereford College of Arts course leader Darren Williams said the project is an exceptional opportunity for the students involved to challenge themselves.

He said:

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“It has been rewarding to see the development of these students over the last few months and how they have grown in confidence when dealing with all the other stakeholders, such as the city council and skatepark itself.

“The work itself has been a response to a brief relating to the ‘Home Front’, in which they chose to recognise the efforts of the munitions factory workers at Rotherwas during the 20th Century.”

A lot of work has also be done behind the scenes by Councillor Paul Stevens (Widemarsh).

The Ship Inn site could look like this if the new proposed project is accepted.

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As part of our on-going commitment to provide affordable housing, we are always exploring new sites and developments. We are currently considering the following schemes, but will not begin work until after a period of detailed feasibility studies and consultation.

 

Ship Inn

The Ship Inn has been closed for a number of years and has suffered from vandalism. We are looking to redevelop the site by creating around 35 new 1 & 2 bedroom apartments.

 

Other projects include:

 

Larkrise Housing, Much Birch

We are working with the local community to create a co-housing scheme to provide 10 affordable and 10 market sale properties, as well as playground facilities and improved local parking. A planning application for outline permission has now been submitted. If  you have any questions about this project or would like to register your interest in a property, please contact Avril Shaw: 01981 541089 avril.shaw56@gmail.com or Kim Read: 01432 383991 kread@hhl.org.uk

Larkrise is a group of local people establishing a co-housing initiative at Tump Lane in partnership with Herefordshire Housing.  Herefordshire Housing Ltd (HHL) is a charitable not-for-profit Registered Provider of affordable housing throughout Herefordshire.

 

Perrystone Lane, Tupsley

Proposed development of 17 affordable homes, outlined planning consent, compromising of flats, bungalows and houses. We anticipate this scheme to be on site by Spring 2016.

There will be a public consultation on Wednesday 26^th August 2015 at Hampton Park United Reform Church,Hampton Dene Rd, Hereford HR1 1UJ, from 3pm to 6pm, to exhibit and discuss our plans. Please come along if you wish.

Planning permission was refused for a Costa Coffee to be located on a Retail Park on Holmer Road Hereford with concerns over lack of parking.

Full details of decision below:

THE COUNTY OF HEREFORDSHIRE DISTRICT COUNCIL hereby gives notice in pursuance of the provisions of the above Acts that PLANNING PERMISSION has been REFUSED for the carrying out of the development described above for the following reasons:

1 The proposal would have insufficient parking and this would result in indiscriminate parking to the detriment of highway safety. In addition a lack of an allocated delivery vehicles unloading area would be likely to exacerbate this. The proposal is contrary to Herefordshire Local Plan – Core Strategy policies SS4 and MT1.

Informatives:

1 The Local Planning Authority has acted positively and proactively in determining this application by assessing the proposal against planning policy and any other material considerations and identifying matters of concern with the proposal and discussing those with the applicant both at pre-application stage and during the consideration of the application. However, the additional supporting information has not overcome these concerns and has been found that it is not possible to negotiate a satisfactory way forward and due to the harms which have been clearly identified within the reasons for the refusal, approval is not possible

 

We spoke with the staff at the Mexican food giant Chimichanga this evening following rumours on social media that they will be closing their restaurant at the Old Market Hereford in the New Year.

We are informed by staff that a burger restaurant may be opening in their place but as we have stated this is only a rumour and nothing has yet been confirmed.

Should the five heads of the LA…who are Alistair Neil,Stephen Vickers,Chris Baird,Geoff Hughes & Karen Wright face a totally independent scrutiny panel that is a panel made up of people who are not involved in the day to day running of the council?

as I believe they should. Because for me,these five hide in the shadows…never ever face true scrutiny…are puppet masters of our elected councillors? as I would say they are behind the true policy making?…conjuring up decisions,orchestrate plans,deciding what building developments go where,advise & coerce our councillors into rubber stamping what is in effect there own desires with little or no regard to true public opinion…As at the end of the day it is us,who's daily lives are affect by the outcome of their actions…which can last years if not decades in some cases?!

A pile of bikes have been seen under the old bridge possibly pulled out of the river.
Police have been informed by don't seem to be interested.
 

Tesco Express in Ledbury Road are selling Unleaded and super unleaded for £1.21.9 and diesel  and premium diesel at 1.25.9 until they run out.
Fuel tanks are being replaced over a three week period from Monday 11th June.

Fire gutted a park home this evening. Four fire appliances and two ambulances were on scene the fire was close to setting alight other park homes.

Does anyone know why the church bells have been ringing for several days?

Herefordshire Council delivers draft balanced budget

Herefordshire Council has today published its draft statement of accounts for public inspection. The statements confirm that the council spent within its budget for 2017/18 and has set aside reserves for future years.

The detailed performance for the year will be reported to Cabinet in June. The statements of accounts provide an understanding of the financial position of the council and demonstrate that the financial position is sound and secure.

The council’s 2017/18 net revenue budget of £145m was matched with equivalent net spend, after transfers to and from specific reserves. Council reserves are proportionately comparable to similar councils and providing resilience as we face the challenges ahead.

Capital investment for 2017/18 totalled £49.2 and included investment in the highways network (£13.7m), Hereford City Transport Package (£6.1m), Colwall Primary School (£4.1m) and Hereford Enterprise Zone (£1.8m). No new long-term borrowing was required to be undertaken.

Every day the council helps to protect around 2,500 vulnerable adults and 1,000 children and young people (including 300 children in our care).

Recent achievements include:

Working with external partners to produce a business case which secured £23m of government funding to establish a new university in Hereford, of which the Council is the accountable body, and
 
During the year the council realised the majority of the sale of its smallholding estate and the Council has approved that these funds (in excess of £40m) will be reinvested in regeneration projects throughout the County.

The external auditors, Grant Thornton, will commence their audit work to supply their opinion on whether the draft financial statements present a true and fair view of the financial position of the council, its expenditure and income and whether they have been prepared properly in accordance with accounting practice. This work is schedule to conclude in July.

The public are invited to view the accounts from 1 June 2018 to 12 July 2018 inclusive, where you may question the auditor about the accounts, or make an objection to the accounts. A guide to your rights can be found at https://www.nao.org.uk/code-audit-practice/wp-content/uploads/sites/29/2015/03/Council-accounts-a-guide-to-your-rights.pdf

Can't wait till Welsh Water close the Ross Road adjacent to the Hinton Community Centre to clear a blocked sewer. 

Entrance to to Tescos Bewell St car park is blocked this afternoon due to a van getting stuck on entrance ramp

Stopped in Goodrich Grove, Newton Farm tonight at 10:00pm by couple in car looking for a lost Beagle dog from the Redhill area. The woman's name was Marley.