All of the information on the service changes between now and the New Year are available on the

Herefordshire Council website- Click here

The A49 remains closed near Moreton-on-Lugg following a serious accident this morning, please avoid this area.

Congratulations to the The Stagg Inn at Titley it's good to see you in the new The Good Pub Guide for Herefordshire Dining Pub of the Year once again. Keep up the great work!

Congratulations to all of this year’s winners!

#goodpubguide #herefordshire #positivehereford

Crews from Hereford & Worcester Fire and Rescue Service across the county tackle fire at petrol station Christmas Day.

The fire was at Budgens shop and garage at Whitchurch, near Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire.

Station commander Phil Major said on his Twitter feed

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"Can you believe it, a petrol station fire tonight, crews from across Herefordshire tackling the blaze brought under control in the early hours of Xmas day, great actions from the initial crews to get in and stop the fire spreading to the fuel tanks. Brave and decisive actions".

Photographs courtesy of Phil Major

Wishing you all a happy and peaceful Boxing Day

Merry Christmas to all our lovely members and friends, have a fabulous day.

Some pharmacies in Herefordshire and Worcestershire are available today for advice, medications and prescriptions.

To find your nearest available pharmacy CLICK HERE 

Download the full county pdf file below

Christmas-2020-Pharmacy-Opening-Times-Herefordshire-and-Worcestershire.pdf

A motorist has crashed their car through a wall and into the cider press on Whitecross Road this morning.

The are no reports of any injuries.

Hereford & Worcester Fire and Rescue Service water rescues teams from across the two counties have rescued 44 people from their vehicles, caught out by the rising floodwaters, further crews have assisted homeowners with serious flooding effecting electrics and giving advice.

Please adhere to any 'road closure' signage.

Following the accident Leominster SNT's wrote on their Twitter feed;

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"As a reminder to drivers about driving to the conditions.....please take extra care and slow down. There is lots of surface water, making the roads treacherous in places"

Photographs courtesy of Leominster SNT

A busy night for Hereford Police with 3 x arrests for drink drive and 2 x arrests for drink and drug drive.

West Mercia Police supporting the NPCC drink/drug drive campaign.

A West Mercia Police Specials Officer came across an RTC last night outside Leominster, minutes after it happened. The driver lost control going too fast through the flood water.

It is important to slow down and be extremely cautious in this weather!

New Tier restrictions from today (Sat 19 Dec), Herefordshire has moved from Tier 2 to Tier 1 restrictions.

For the latest on what this means for you & to keep up to date with other local area restrictions visit: http://orlo.uk/DTAYF

The Covid-19 pandemic has caused uncertainty for future funding so the council has to prepare to make savings. Be part of the conversation and let Hereford Council know your priorities on council services next year by visiting here

Herefordshire Council are providing free school meals over the Christmas holidays to help those who already get free school meals during term time, hopefully this will be an extra help - particularly if you have been financially affected by the pandemic.

If you have an eligible child you will receive a local supermarket voucher for the value of £75 to cover the cost of food for the two week Christmas holiday period.

Herefordshire Council will be issuing free food vouchers direct to parents and carers of pre-school age children. If you haven't heard from the team then please email them HERE.

For older children, your school will give out the vouchers.  Your school will contact you in good time to let you know if you are entitled to the vouchers and how to get them. 

If you have a child that receives free school meals during term time but haven’t received a voucher, please get in touch with your child’s school as soon as possible.

I am relieved to hear this, but where are they? Hadn't realised there were so few.

03/06/2020 - To re-open all public toilets in Herefordshire in two phases where it is safe to do so under Government guidelines ref: 6914    

Recommendations Approved

Since the national lockdown restrictions have eased in recent weeks, there has been a significant increase of footfall to the county especially to the rural parks and countryside.

The lack of facilities is now causing a public health hazard due to the continued closure. Government guidance of 2 metre social distancing, appropriate signage and appropriate hand washing facilities needs to be addressed before the toilets can be re-opened. The council needs to ensure that both users and cleaners can operate safely.

Government guidance can be found at the following links:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/safer-public-places-urban-centres-and-green-spaces-covid-19/4-management-of-urban-centres

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/working-safely-during-coronavirus-covid-19/construction-and-other-outdoor-work

Appropriate additional measures may include:

Adding a touch point clean to routine cleaning.
Signage – for queuing and social distancing outside.
Handwashing – in addition to signage and ensuring that toilets do not run out of supplies, to put external hand sanitizers on the outside of toilets.

Proposal is to open as soon as possible all toilets identified in Phase 1 of appendix 1 where there is direct access off the street. This will include the disabled toilet at the British camp where the radar lock will be replaced with a normal lock to enable visitors to use it.

All toilets identified under Phase 2 of appendix 1 will be re-opened as soon as practicable possible after the 15th June 2020. These are cubicle toilets and it is far more difficult to achieve the 2 metre social distancing which makes them safe for users and cleaners.

The use of the toilets will be monitored on a weekly basis.

Decision Maker: Director of Economy and Place

Decision published: 04/06/2020

Effective from: 03/06/2020

Lead officer: Helen Beale

PUBLIC TOILET REOPENING PHASE 1

I0PY     Hereford Gaol Street Car Park Public Convenience 
EJPP     Hereford Union Walk Public Convenience 
HJPY     Leominster Broad Street Public Convenience 
LJPA     Leominster Westbury Street Public Convenience 
KJP7     Colwall Jubilee Drive British Camp Public Convenience ACCESSIBLE TOILETS ONLY 
FJPS     Kington Mill Street Public Convenience ACCESSIBLE TOILETS ONLY 
WAPM Ledbury Church Lane Public Convenience ACCESSIBLE TOILETS ONLY 

PHASE 2

KJP7     Colwall Jubilee Drive British Camp Public Convenience REMAINDER 
FJPS     Kington Mill Street Public Convenience REMAINDER 
WAPM Ledbury Church Lane Public Convenience REMAINDER 
0CP3    Colwall Jubilee Drive Wyche Cutting Public Convenience 
0QGL   Hereford Castle Green Public Convenience Castle Street 
6APH   Ross-on-Wye The Croft Public Convenience

Mark Chilman, 51, from Pencombe, Bromyard, has been charged with murder & remanded to Kidderminster Magistrates’ Court to appear tomorrow (Thursday 17 December).

He was charged in relation to an incident that occurred in Cotheridge, Worcestershire, on Saturday 12 December.

A 27-year-old man remains in custody.

Keith Brown, aged 55, from Blakes Lane, Guarlford in Malvern, was sentenced today (Wednesday 16 December) at Worcester Crown Court, to 10 years and 8 months in prison extended for 3 years to serve on licence for raping an 83 year old woman in her home.

Brown pleaded guilty on Monday 14 September to the rape which happened in the early hours of Thursday 13 August. He was also given a restraining order not to contact the victim for life.

Detective Inspector Tony Garner said: "This was a despicable offence on an elderly and defenceless victim. Following the report of the incident we mobilised every resource at our disposal from detectives to dogs teams in order to catch a vile sexual predator. All those involved in the investigation worked tirelessly to quickly apprehend Brown and in doing so we have prevented further people potentially becoming a victim to him. 

“My hope is this conviction and sentence will provide some measure of closure for the victim who is an extremely brave and courageous woman. It will also reassure a local community and act as a warning to anyone else considering offending in this manner that West Mercia Police will not rest until you are caught and brought to justice.”

Anyone who is a victim of any sexual assault and feels they may need support can contact West Mercia's Victim Advice Line. It is a free, independent and confidential support service. People can call 0800 952 3000 or visit www.victimadviceline.org.uk and do not have to have reported the offence to the police.

To report a crime like this, phone the police non-emergency number 101 (always call 999 in an emergency). If you'd like to give information anonymously - without leaving your name or identifying details - you can do so by phoning the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Crimestoppers also has an anonymous online form at www.crimestoppers-uk.org