Enjoyed seeing the Notorious Brothers band playing last night at the Vaga Tavern. Drummer was blind but brilliant and funny with it, great band and I would definitely go and see them again.

Herefordshire Council Parking Review New Charges Agreed.

Herefordshire residents, visitors and shoppers will see changes to parking tariffs and to the way they pay for parking after the adoption of the council’s parking review.

In Hereford, charges will increase at many car parks including at Merton Meadow from £3 all day to £5, and at Bath Street, Bus Station, Garrick multi-storey, Greyfriars, Union Walk, Venns Close and Wye Street from £4.70 for over four hours to £6.

I recently visited Eastbourne where they have a very busy town centre and promenade. I was pleasantly surprised to see parking meters with simple charges - 2 Hours only 20p - 4 Hours £1.20 - 6 Hours £1.50 - 6-10 Hours £4.

I took this photograph of one of the parking meters, which shows all of the very reasonable prices. 

Herefordshire Council could adopt a small fee for people who just need to go into the city centre for no more than 2 hours. Not everyone needs to park all day!

Herefordshire Council has today confirmed that the total levy for Herefordshire residents is to rise by an average of 3.8% from April 2016.

This includes increases in precepts from West Mercia police (1.99%), Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue (1.96%) and town or parish councils (an average of 12.7%). The increase will mean a rise of approximately £5 a month for those living in a band D property. The Herefordshire Council tax increase of 3.9% includes a 2% (£1.7m) increase to support rising costs of adult social care for Herefordshire’s ageing population, which is supported by government and will be reviewed annually.

Funding from central government has been reduced by a third for 2016/17 (a loss of £9m from the council’s budget), however Herefordshire Council continues to rise to the challenge.  It has made significant savings since 2010, alongside delivering successful projects to boost the local economy including The Old Market retail development, the new livestock market, faster broadband and the Hereford Enterprise Zone.

Councillor Tony Johnson, leader of Herefordshire Council, said:

“In the last year, Herefordshire Council spent around £9million more on social care than it received in council tax. In line with neighbouring councils, we need to introduce an average total tax increase of 3.8%, which includes a 2% levy to support Herefordshire’s rising adult social care costs, as suggested by government.

"It’s never been more important for us to consider different ways to deliver services to achieve better value for money, to continue to grow our local economy, secure new jobs and homes, and to ensure prosperity throughout the county.”

Source

Until recently I had not heard of the Community Trigger - having read posters say the Authorities have done to nothing to resolve their complaint of anti- social behaviour etc it may be worth reading on the Council website how to use the Community Trigger .

It will be very interesting to know if anybody has asked the Community Safety Partnership to review the response to anti - social behaviour incidents - plus their reply.

The Community Trigger

The Community Trigger gives individuals and communities the right to request a review of their case of anti-social behaviour or hate crime, if they are not happy with the response from the relevant authorities.

You can apply for the Community Trigger if:

You have reported three or more incidents of anti-social behaviour in the past six months to the local authority, the police or their housing association

You and four or more individuals have complained separately about similar incidents of anti-social behaviour in the past six months to the local authority, the police or their housing association

The anti-social behaviour incident must have been reported within one month of the alleged behaviour taking place and the application to use the Community Trigger must be made within six months of the report of the anti-social behaviour.

Only joking. I just didn't want NF to feel left out!! No such events with Mr Edwards at the helm.
I'm over to Jims patch.
NFCA shop could not give me any more information regarding the whereabouts of Mr Edwards than we already know.

Another event in Jims neighbourhood!! Nothing of such Southside! Perhaps someone can post the FB link?

I shall be visiting the Quarry with mini me for this.

It's at Easter!

Congratulations to Inspector Nick Semper.

Inspector Nick Semper from Hereford's Safer Neighbourhood Team received a national award at the National Pubwatch Conference last week.

Located at 10, New Street, Ledbury ....

Applying for an alcohol licence to sell between 0900 - 2200 7 days a week ...

Application

Parents in Herefordshire join those across England today (Tuesday 1 March 2016), with finding out which secondary school their child will be attending in September 2016.

 

Herefordshire Council has made 1,790 offers of places for secondary schools across the county, with the following parental preference success rates:

 

First preference: 1,622 offers, which is 90.6% of the total offers

 

In comparison to last year, there were 1,682 secondary school place offers made, of which 96.5% were first preferences.

 

Herefordshire Council

Massive drop in parents' getting their first choice of schools compared to last year ..... A reflection of a National trend ...

Absolutely Biomech!

Its this complete lack of common sense when it comes to spending our money, that has got us into this mess!

Very nice to speak to you again too, after all this time.......

The owners of the European shop in Whitecross Road Hereford are opening a new store on Belmont Road. This building has been empty for some time. There have been various attempts at pop up shops over the years but unfortunately none have ever lasted for too long, lets hope this new venture is successful for the new owners/tenants.

Remember where you heard it first! #herefordvoice

High Tea and Fun Quiz at Belmont Community Centre

A tractor driver somehow lost control of his tractor & trailer this morning and hit the side

of the Old Market.

Public Space Protection Order - PSPO

owned by the local authority who can introduce a local order that is deemed necessary to deal with ASB that has a detrimental effect on the public/community.

You may be aware of 'alcohol free areas' that again are owned by the council and cover various locations across the county intended to prevent street drinking that could result in ASB - these orders are purely about alcohol unlike PSPO which are about the wider issue of ASB.

So bear with me.

The alcohol free zones 'die' late 2017, hopefully the local authority will likely introduce PSPO prior to this, PSPO have a life span of 3 years and have to subject to regular review to see if still relevant or need extending/amending/revoking.

A PSPO can be used to deal with areas that should be alcohol free zones plus numerous other broader issues such as the following-

Dog control - numerous aspects

Vehicle nuisance

Begging

Busking

Unlicensed street trading

Charity collectors

Cycling in pedestrian areas

Urinating/deficating in public spaces

Driving off road

Remote control vehicles such as drones

These are purely broad headings and many will not be relevant to the city or others in the county, there may be other matters which can be considered.

You are probably thing it's a bit big brother, but I can say that many of the issues that could be included are already included in UK law. The pupose of the PSPO is to be specific with regards to ASB issues that effect your own communities.

The whole purpose is to stop the behaviour and whilst some limited matters will likely end up with a fine, most will be dealt by saying stop and only result in a fine if the behaviour continues.

There are a number of PSPO in existence across England and Wales, for example many purely cover alcohol free zones, but some - especially in bigger cities cover issues such as vehicle nuisance (car cruising in Kensington High Street) chugger, busking, begging and even feeding pigeons!

The council if they consider introducing an order have to consult with the police, the office of the PCC and any other interested parties - I would hope the last aspect covers the public. Any matters covered by a PSPO have to be evidenced based - not purely nice to have through a big brother approach.

Enforcement would be down to the police,local authority or any other authorised person.

This is not a cash cow for any local authority, the way the law is written is about stopping the ASB that does have a detrimental impact on the quality of life of our communities - and that includes you, me and the businesses that support the economy of our county

P142554/F

Sorry I cannot get it to link to the Council site

I also thought it should be a new topic

The Greyfriars and Eign Gate underpasses are both in desperate need of some TLC. I took these photographs this evening and as you can see, it is very dark here, half the lights are not working.

The lights that are 'out of order' are numbers 1 (entrance) 4, 5, 8 and 9 (on the exit). 

Look how dark the Greyfriars underpass is from Greyfriars end

This underpass is in need of some new bright LED lighting throughout and on both entrances including the pathway leading to the actual underpass. I think the council need to provide a safe environment for residents and this feels far from safe as it stands.

There is no CCTV coverage here either, this needs addressing sooner rather than later.