I had a thought there are many people that blog on this site and we never meet I'm sure there will be many that like it that way but why not have a get together at my pub the victory in Hereford I am happy to provide a free curry and entertainment and maybe have a short question and answer with some local councillors it would also be an opportunity to grow the site and give Colin some recognition for the great effort he puts into it I certainly find it informative.

Victory Pub Ledbury Road Hereford - Saturday February 1st From 7pm.

I've already posted comparison between Hereford traffic and that of a horse and cart from the 1800's. Here's a bit more to cement the fact that, despite being preached to by the council that they are forward thinking, Hereford is stuck in the 1800's
 
The OLM a big new build. Now I assumed that the the slanted roofing was an architectural decision to base it on the look of the old market cattle shelters. Which makes sense.
 

 
 

 
 
The only trouble is, that this is a "design" from the 1800's.
 
 
This design is known as a "Saw Tooth Roof", attributed to architect William Fairbairn as early as 1827. It's primary concept was to allow day light into the large factories. Now I'm just guessing here, but I see no windows in the roof and imagine the interior will be floored and lit accordingly. Funnily enough, Fairbairn dubbed this the "shed principle" :P
 
One of the drawbacks of this design of roof is that "crap" and debris collect in the troughs leading to drainage issues if not cleared. I mean, I'm sure they thought of all of this, they are highly paid architects after all, not idiots, and know a great deal more about building design than I ever will. I'm just pointing out that this is another example of Hereford stuck in the 1800's.
 
And wouldn't it make SO much sense to put solar panels on these sloped roofs. 
 
Also found this;

I would, however, like to add that the construction company aren't really at fault in any of this, they've done a cracking job and make huge amounts of progress in the time that they have been working. So well done to the guys on the ground.

So there you have it, we have potholed roads from the 1600's, traffic that moves slower than a horse and cart in 1700's and buildings that look like they have been poached straight out of the 1800's.

For a long time I've been "shopping" shopping elsewhere because of the lack of choice, shops, traffic etc in Hereford.

I still bought the small things locally, stationery, stamps etc. That was until yesterday when I went shopping;

Summary:

Shopping in Hereford is utterly unpleasant. With the exception of food shopping, I am now only buying online and in places like Cardiff/Worcester/Gloucester

Traffic - Bad, slow.

Parking - Badly designed car parks

Shops - Lack of

Products - Lack of

Toilets - Lack of

Traffic:

Edgar Street South was surprisingly and pleasantly quick - on more than one occasion! (northbound was backed up to Steeles though).

However, I then proceeded to spend no less than 20 minutes trying to get up the ramp in Tescos underground car park.

I actually do my food shopping at around 2am now so I don't have to deal with the traffic and hordes of people taking up as much of the aisles as they possibly can. As we all know, traffic in Hereford is always pretty dire, I have, on several occasions, taken a packed lunch because I know I'll be sitting in queues of traffic

..Parking:

I went to Tesco underground (park upstairs/outside), B&M/Next and The Range. The Range was fine, as expected.

But the problem here lies in car park design. We know that the B&M/Next is just a joke, a 6ft wide opening that acts as the entrance AND exit for a one way system that's so tight that the second anyone wants to manoeuvre a car the whole thing jams up..

.. as does Tesco (town). A one way system where, again, if someone is waiting for a space to empty as the driver returns, the entire thing grinds to a halt. This then causes a backup throughout the undergound carpark which can spill out onto the large Tesco roundabout causing further delays. It still amazes me when people drive into the "trees" carpark there. It's a dead end and has enough space for 1 car to drive down. You have to reverse out because you can't turn and if someone has followed you in, you better prepare for a LONG stay.

Shops:

There aren't that really that many and those with a similar genre are dotted all over the place requiring multiple car trips and, potentially, multiple parking charges.

You can't "browse" the shops in Hereford for what you want, you need to know what it is that you want and where it is. If you wanted some new trousers, you might look in M&S, H&M and Next.... Next, so you have to go to the other side of town, navigate a ridiculous carpark and go inside JUST to see if they MIGHT have what you want, perhaps only to head back through traffic in to town back to M&S.

Lack of actual products:

Have you ever actually tried to buy something in Hereford when you didn't know for sure what shop had it? You literally spend hours walking around trying all of the shops that you'd expect to have it, only to find that they don't. It's almost, but not quite, as bad as wanting a rolling pin and finding that the cook shops in town don't sell them. 2 Things in particular come to mind from yesterdays jaunt.

1. Garland. I wanted some Christmas Garland, just a cheap bit. There are only 2 places in the city that sell it. The "cheap" popup Christmas shop opposite the Entertainer, where it will set you back around £35 (a standard artificial tree in there is often upward of £125!) and the indoor market fake florist stall (where they make funeral bits and flower craft) Cheaper and good service - I actually bought last years bits from there too.

2. A burger. Yesterday I hadn't had breakfast and was really hungry. I REALLY fancied a cheese burger, a proper one, you know, big, made with meat not sugar. So I headed to the Charcoal Grill who do amazing burgers - it was closed. Marmaris - closed, Flames - closed down, Munchies - Heard their food isn't great, several other "takeaway" shops down Union Street - closed or out of business. So after much walking I looked into McDonalds and the queue was to the door so that was a no go. Couldn't even get a proper burger. I ended up eating a sandwich from Tescos whilst sat in the carpark.

Toilets:

Because I had spent a lot of time walking, driving etc around town trying to find things, I needed the toilet, I was at Next at the time. The closest toilet for public use is at the Leisure Centre. It's about a third of a mile away, around a 5 minute brisk walk. Obviously I could accommodate that. But it made me think, what if I was 80? What if I was in a wheelchair or on crutches with a broken foot? That wouldn't be an easy trip.

On the whole, it was a horrible experience. Shopping at this time of year is supposed to be fun and exciting but it was very unpleasant because of the way Hereford has been managed/developed. 

The only big exception really was The Range. Ample and ACCESSIBLE parking. Good range of items, friendly and helpful staff.

I live here and find it a very unpleasant place to shop - what are visitors going to think?

And I really feel sorry for the small businesses here, because the city is doing nothing but pushing people away. (quick note on the OLM defense, there's still nothing there. Yet another supermarkey, some new resturants and the rest are shops we already have just moving in)

So I've decided I'm completely done with shopping in Hereford now. I'll continue to buy my food shopping at 2am and I'll crawl into town to make deposits at the bank. But if I want anything other than food, I'm now buying it online or somewhere like Cardiff or Worcester. As for stationery and office consumables, I've just placed a few bulk orders for Ink, Envelopes, Pens etc.

Herefordshire's Council's independent group will not be forming a coalition with the Tories in Hereford! Expect an official announcement sometime tomorrow.

Remember you heard it first on Hereford Voice!

Please select your preferred name choice from the list above for our lights out campaign group. 

This poll ends Tuesday 10th December 2013 - 2100 hours.

I've just read this article about a man who "accidentally" shot a burglar.

http://www.herefordtimes.com/news/10849978.Whitbourne_shooting_trial___Malcolm_White_says_that_he_thought_he_was__going_to_be_robbed_/?ref=var_0

I have no problem with that, the men where trying to raid his house, by all means take action.

But I am a little confused by the article. It says he's up on a charge on "unlawful wounding", but reading the article, the man in question was running a cannabis farm woth £60,000 a year...... surely he should be being convicted for supply and distribution of illegal substances?

I was going to post this yesterday but ran out of time;

Yesterday, I took a drive to B&Q and back. The Heart of Oak roundabout was gridlocked because of the traffic backed up from the top/tesco end of Edgar street.

It took 14 minutes to travel (S) on Edgar Street. - 0.4 miles that is, which, at the speed limit of 30mph, should take 48 seconds.

It then took 60 seconds to get from the Tesco roundabout to the middle of the new bridge - an equal 0.4 miles.

Now you might think 14 minutes isn't a lot in the grand scheme of things. But that's 17.5x longer than it should take.

To put that into perspective, that is the same as driving to London NON STOP and it taking 2 days 2 hours and 10 minutes instead of the 2 hours 52 minutes calculated by Google

Horse drawn carriages of the 1800's travelled at an average speed of 4mph. That would put a journey in from Hereford to London at 1 day 11 hours 15 minutes.

At these various "pinch points" around Hereford, they have created traffic delays so sever that;

AT HEREFORD TRAFFIC SPEEDS AN 1847 HORSE AND CART WOULD BE 25% FASTER

Northbound traffic all last week was great, once you had got over the bridge the problem was driving back up Edgar St where the temp lights were. WHY have they got those there? Pointless, this is the only point wee there is a problem, can't they see that?

I congratulate the villagers of Lugwardine on their victory, as described by Nigel Shore in the Hereford Times of December 5th. In his letter Mr Shore contends that some planning committee councillors expressed frustration that there is no five year housing land supply, which results in the “emasculation†of council decision making. It does, but who is to blame for that? The very same councillors who, despite repeated warnings from such bodies as the Hereford Civic Society and CPRE, have sat there twiddling their thumbs and abjectly failing to put a rocket under the managers responsible. I have asked Mr Ashcroft, via Alistair Neill, so he knows too, why there is no five year land supply. His incomprehensible answer can be seen on my web site www.broadernews.wordpress.com under “Ashcroft Answers (Various)â€. Councillors, get your senior officers under control. Ask the awkward questions, and if you don't get satisfactory answers, sack them. You are elected to be “quality control†Herefordshire County PLC so let's have some quality and some control.

Nigel Shore makes reference to Neighbourhood Development Plans (NDPs) saying that building on green field sites will certainly not be favoured in their NDP. This is wishful thinking. NDPs do not have the authority to stop development, prevent it, look disfavourably upon it, or in any way contest the adopted Local Plan, when it eventually arrives, or the National Planning Policy Framework. I have worked endlessly to impress this point upon my own parish council, to no avail. NDPs are not a landscape defence mechanism. They are the opposite. They will, paradoxically, not increase local control, but reduce it because, once adopted, there will be no ability for many locals to object to any development approved by their NDP, which may have been drawn up and adopted by a tiny minority, the ones who actually bothered to take part in the drafting and who voted in the obligatory referendum. The process is protracted, complex, and to be legitimate and meaningful, must run a long and comprehensive consultation, involving, “reaching†a decent percentage of residents, something that Barbara Ferris has been pouring cold water on this week on the same page of the Hereford Times. On top of that, the Local Plan and the NPPF will trump the NDP at every appeal. NDPs are the planning equivalent of painting yourself into a corner, or mortgaging your future right to have many a say for the chance to have a single say now. It is planning bondage, not planning liberty. 

Interested parties should have a look at the Report of the Examination of the Cringleford plan which has just been through the inspection phase.http://www.cringlefordparishcouncil.gov.uk/neighbourhood.php They will see that where the residents of Cringleford have included such phrases as “will not be permittedâ€, or “a maximum ofâ€, the inspector has simply ruled them out. Where the residents have clearly been concerned about a particular issue and have recommended constraints in their NDP, the inspector has negated the intention by tacking “except to the extent that this would make needed development unviable†on to the end of the sentence. The promise of having your say is reneged upon by a single shard of planning speak. 

Nigel Shore's opinion that Lugwardine residents will actually have an effective say in what goes on in their locale is a commonly held view which I dispute. Again, Mr Ashcroft gives an incomprehensible answer when asked why his guidance notes are at odds with what his commissars are saying out there in the parishes, and again, it's on my web site. Interpretations of Ashcroft speak and counter arguments are welcomed.

With thanks to Bobby and in the belief that these sites we all blog on actually get read by the target: councillors and officers alike. That's who my codswallop is aimed at anyway. 

"PARKING charges at Hereford County Hospital - already among the highest in the county - are due to go up again."

Not sure how much it is now, the HT says £3, which I'm guessing is £3 an hour but I'm sure it was more expensive than that when I went there last
We all need to go to hospital at some point and fight through the smokers that 'hang around' the main door 'like a homeless group meeting' just to visit a loved one, and I find it disgusting that people are forced to pay extortionate prices to see them??

It's a good job and mate of mine lives just 10 minutes away

Oh, and why on the HT site isn't there no comments allowed on this subject ??
And I had to buy the times today and noticed that the contents that the HT took off the site is carefully chosen ;-)

I walk my dog three or four times a week in Belmont Park and I can assure you all that I pick up any deposits, no big deal.

There are those who don't and I have spoken to them and had abuse or they just look at you as if you are mad, then there are others who do pick up with their bags then throw it into the bushes or into a tree. If you don't pick up well you don't give a monkeys for any normal behaviour. I have got to know most of the dog walkers and the ones I know I think clean up.

What, 36 hours?

That complete cretin of a spineless newspaper editor - Fiona Phillips - has banned me again.

Biomech 2.0: You have been banned from leaving comments on this website for a serious breach of our site terms and ignoring previous warnings. Do not attempt to log back into this website.

 

How about these ideas for car parking?

When roundabouts were roundabouts and we had no traffic lights and not that long ago.

Wikipedia's definition of a roundabout is the same as mine funny enough

A roundabout is a type of circular intersection or junction in which road traffic is slowed and flows almost continuously in one direction around a central island to several exits onto the various intersecting roads.

 

Highways Agency please see below;

This is how it works

I use this if I agree or if I disagree with a comment.

The police have put up a cordon in Eign Road outside the Brewers Arms. 

West Mercia Police release this statement

T'other day I was fishing down the Wye. I fish for barbel. It's a lovely fish. Beautifully designed, powerful, a joy to hook and one of the thickest species in the River. I've gazed into this creatures eyes in the hope of learning more about how it thinks and I can tell you all that the barbel is probably the most unintelligent fish I've ever stared at, and I've done my fair share of gazing into the eyes of fish. In fact, I'd urge you all not to repeat my mistake. For two hours after this encounter I couldn't think of anything. My mind was blank. I'd crossed over you see. I'd gone to far. I'd looked into the eyes of this creature and I'd come out of this experience a very different fisherman than I was before I landed the bloody thing and stupidly looked into its eyes and became entranced by its strange and bewitching hypnotic stare.

Anyway, after I'd recovered from this bloody barbel's influence, I rolled a ***, threw back a generous swig of beer and as I sat there muttering, 'I'd love to eat a few insects', I noticed an object on the side of the river bank. It was a wage packet and it was sealed. I'd found a wage packet. Some fool had actually lost his wages and I had found them.

Mind, then I was presented with a dillema. Had he lost his wages or had he decided he didn't want them and simply threw them away?. Being an honest sort, I knew that I should hand this wage packet to the Police for safe keeping. But, if, as I suspected he didn't want his wages and he'd chosen to throw them away, who was I to question his intentions.

It was at this point that I decided to change my life and create my own wealth. Convinced that this fool didn't want his wages and he would have become angry with me for handing them into the Police, I decided to have what was inside the envelope.

I stood up, had a quick peep to see whether or not I was being watched, I opened these wages that this fool clearly didn't want and following an examination of its contents, I screamed, 'The lazy basta.r.d! He had four days off'.Good Lord!

It was at this point I decided that from hereon, I'd forget about lost wage packets, betting on uncertain outcomes and writing begging letters and instead, I'd acquire a Metal Detector.

Im going to become a person who sweeps fields and other similar open spaces to find and appropriate precious and semi precious metals. Having given this a lot of thought Ive decided that I'll be damned if I spend days wandering about digging up old pram wheels and unwanted and discarded bottle tops. Im after Gold and Silver and there is a switch on my Metal Detector that excluded all these unwanted finds allowing me to only detect Gold and Silver.

They found the Staffordshire hoard didn't they? Well, Im convinced there is a Hereford hoard and Im going to find it. It's out there and anyone who says it isn't is a bloody fool and someone who ain't interested in becoming fabulously wealthy.

Mind, I ain't just going to tip up in some field, start sweeping, muttering, 'where in Gods name is it?' Im going to concentrate on areas where the bloody Saxons have stayed and perhaps buried their trinkets of gold and silver. I'll be bloody damned if I spend unnecessary hours looking for something that ain't there because the bloody Saxons had never been there in the first place.

No, Im going to follow the evidence. I'm going to sweep areas that are known to have had the Saxons there. If I get told by some passer bye, 'the Saxons were never here', then that's good enough for me and I'll go elsewhere. I mean, there'd be no point looking in an area where the Saxons had never been.

I want to know where the Saxons have been so that I can find the Herefordshire hoard. Mind, if some fool comes on here and responds to this codswallop and says, 'I know where the Saxons were staying and I know where they buried their hoard, Im going to be thinking, 'hi up! If he knows where it is, why hasn't he dug it up already'.

Hi Just wondering if anyone knows if there is CCTV at the junction from Edgar street where you join the roundabout ?

My husband was hit side on as he was going around the roundabout by a car trying to get onto the roundabout from Edgar street. The other drivers ins. co. are trying to go for 50/50 blame which mystifies us. Would be really helpful to be able to get some cctv .

regards