The application details:

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Proposed refurbishment and amalgamation of existing building and site layout to create a single retail unit (Class E); creation of a new shop front and entrance extension with associated cladding; reconfigured car parking including parent and child spaces; trolley corral; bollards; and associated works.

Planning application P203578/F full details 

Vehicle failed to stop for Police and a pursuit commenced, after some handy work from Leominster Police and the bed of nails it soon came to an abrupt end! Both occupants arrested.

International singer Feargal Sharkey most widely known as the lead vocalist of punk band The Undertones in the 1970s and 1980s, and for solo works in the 1980s and 1990s has condemned the recent work carried out along the banks of the River Lugg in Herefordshire and has urged the Environment Agency and others to prosecute the perpetrator in a Tweet.

In another Tweet, Sharkey challenges the Environment Agency (Midlands) asking them why didn't they act after the were alerted to the work that was taking place at the River Lugg.

Environmental campaigning

Sharkey is a lifelong fly fisherman and has campaigned against the pollution of British rivers. 

We reported on this story and in a follow up article earlier this week and now many questions are being asked even though there are some local people who are pleased with the work that has been done.

What are your thoughts?

One of the Renaissance wall paintings at Church House Farm in Herefordshire. Photograph: Courtesy of John Stevenson

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A discovery of exceptional Renaissance wall paintings at a Herefordshire farmhouse has prompted a leading expert to warn that the chances of such treasures surviving in domestic settings in Britain are falling because owners are destroying them by modernising their homes.

Stephen Rickerby, who is a consultant to the Getty Conservation Institute and works closely with the Courtauld Institute and English Heritage, was taken aback by the “stunning and extremely high quality” of paintings dating from the late 16th and early 17th centuries that have been uncovered at Church House Farm in Wellington.

Although the Herefordshire discovery was made in 2018, it has taken until now to expose the full scheme of paintings, as well as to consult historians, including specialists from Historic England, and to plan its conservation.

The owners have had to move out of their bedroom into a spare room. The coronavirus lockdown has delayed plans to apply for a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund as it could involve up to £20,000 for painting restoration.

Article: The Guardian 5th December 2020

It's not only rivers that are at risk with this urge to modernise and improve for the natural beauty of things to disappear.

Statement:

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Kingsland Parish Council is aware of the recent work done on the banks of the Lugg at Kingsland.

The parish council has had a dialogue with the Environment Agency, and officers have attended online meetings in recent months.

A site meeting with the Environment Agency in September 2020 identified issues near the bridge and the Environment Agency subsequently wrote that “the left hand bank directly upstream of the bridge could do with some reprofiling due to bank slumping… to ease conveyance as it is currently partially obstructing the 3rd arch of the bridge and will look to the landowner to carry out these works”. Another issue highlighted by the Environment Agency was “a build-up of silt and growth mostly Himalayan Balsam on both the upstream and downstream sides”.

The parish council supports work to improve the Lugg that is undertaken at the direction and instigation of the Environment Agency and is in line with the appropriate guidelines, regulations and processes that may be applicable.

The landowner has given an interview in The Telegraph today 5th December. You can read it here

A new purpose built security centre is to be built at Skylon Park Rotherwas in a joint venture between Herefordshire Council and the University of Wolverhampton. The University of Wolverhampton has approved £1.5 million to contribute to the centre as well as successfully securing grant funding of £4 million from the Marches LEP Local Growth Fund and £1.16 million of European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).  Herefordshire Council has approved funding of £3.5 million to contribute to the Centre for Cyber Security

Congratulations to the urology team at Hereford Wye Valley NHS for being the first users of the Ambu aScope 4 Cysto in the Europe!

A disposable flexible cystoscope. Improving a great service for their patients.

Herefordshire Wildlife Trust have highlighted this destruction to a section of the River Lugg, in Herefordshire. 

One of the most beautiful and important rivers in the UK, has been intentionally destroyed over a stretch of approximately 1.5km with huge repercussions for wildlife downstream.

Herefordshire Wildlife Trust has discovered that the river and its banks have been bulldozed, straightened and reprofiled into a sterile canal, with all bankside and riverside habitats completely obliterated.

The Lugg flows from its source in Powys through Herefordshire before meeting the River Wye just outside Hereford. Its riverbanks, gravels and beds of water crowfoot are home to crayfish, otters and salmon, lampreys and dragonflies and a host of rare river wildlife.

The river is so important for willdife that it is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), and as a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) in its lower reaches.

This should give it multiple layers of protection, with statutory agencies such as Natural England, the Environment Agency, Forestry Commission and Herefordshire Council all given a statutory duty to protect the river from harm.

Work has already started on to expand the existing Belmont Road store into the former Bath Store unit next door. Once complete, farmfoods will dominate the small retail park. 

On Monday evening paranormal investigator Jayne Harris was filming a live Facebook stream at the Pavilion and send us the photograph of the little boy below 👇

She wrote: 

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"Viewers all took screenshots as they saw the ghost of a little boy peering at me from behind a toilet door. The door incidently later opened on it's own! Before I visited I'd been told by the staff there that a little boy haunts the staircase. I also caught a video of a large shadow figure downstairs"

Video

Pavillion is built on the 13th century foundations of the former Hereford Castle and the gaol building is still attached forming part of the structure. Staff say there is the ghost of a WW1 soldier in the cellar. 

Check out all the details on her Facebook page 👉 HD Paranormal

Instead Herefordshire Council leaders have opted for an eastern river crossing between Rotherwas and Ledbury Road, with more investment for walking, cycling and public transport.

A new river bridge for Hereford are you in favour of this option?

The temperatures will be dropping this week and the Gritter teams are on standby to respond when necessary.

The Herefordshire Council preparation is complete, there are 6,000 tonnes of rock salt in their barns and they are monitoring the forecast for the county.

We may get a bit of snow too, particularly on higher ground.

Police searching for a man missing from Herefordshire have found a body.

As part of enquiries to locate 33-year-old Rok Simsic searches of the River Wye have been carried out and yesterday a body was recovered from the water.

The family of Rok has been informed however formal identification has yet to be carried out.

Rok was last seen in Herefordshire on Thursday 5 November.

A foggy day in March 2012, WK275 outside Sheppards surplus where she had sat for over 50 years. This was taken on the day a team from Jet Art turned up to start the dismantling process and extract the aircraft so the restoration work could begin.

All work carried out and photographs courtesy of Jet Art Aviation

Jet Art Aviation Facebook 

Crews from Peterchurch Fire Station were called to attend reports of unattended fire near Madley this morning, on arrival appeared to be more than one that had been lit.

Fires extinguished using 1 hose reel jet and raking out due to proximity of nearby gas tanks.

Advice given to owner

Fire crews from Peterchurch Fire Station attended industrial building fire today with water carrier along with crews from Gloucester, Whitchurch and Ross on Wye Fire Station at Stowfield Business Park, Lydbrook.

Multiple trucks & specials responded - Hereford & Worcester Fire and Rescue Service have now left scene for Gloucestershire Fire & Rescue Service (Official) to deal with fire.

Reports from the police advise of a poorly maintained vehicle, slippy road surface and the driver was arrested for suspected drug drive.

Thankfully nobody was seriously hurt and great work from the Hereford & Worcester Fire and Rescue Service crews who attended the scene today.

Cabinet approves first steps in Council building it's own Council houses which it will retain ownership of, outside the householder right to buy mechanism, and which will provided quality affordable houses that are affordable to own or rent and affordable to run, being built to the very best passive energy standards.

This welcome move gives the first time buyers, renters and those trying to get onto the property ladder a real opportunity to do that in the county. The Council will have an income and an asset and be a responsible and fair landlord, developer.