Hereford Voice

An investigation has launched following a report of rape in the early hours of yesterday morning (21 July) in Ross-on-Wye. The incident happened around 3am between Three Crosses Road and Springfield Road. Detective Inspector Catherine Taylor said: “I know an incident like this will bring great concern to the community and I would like to reassure the public that a thorough investigation is now on going. “I am appealing to anybody who may have any information that would help with our enquiries, however insignificant you feel it may be, to please contact the police. I also ask that people check any doorbell footage they may have from around the time the incident happened. “There will be an increased police presence in the town as we carry out enquiries and specially trained officers are supporting the victim”. If you have any information, please contact Detective Constable James Smith by email james.smith@westmercia.police.uk or by calling 01432 347103. Alternatively, if you do not feel comfortable speaking with the police, information can be shared anonymously with the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or by visiting www.crimestoppers-uk.org

Improvement works to Leominster Town Centre are continuing apace and are now expected to be complete by November. Leominster town centre is benefitting from the multi-million pound High Street Heritage Action Zone (HSHAZ) Fund, which is breathing new life into high streets that are rich in heritage and potential. The Leominster scheme was awarded £1.3 million Historic England grant funding which is matched by £2,185,500 of funding from Herefordshire Council. The council is working in partnership with Leominster Town Council, along with residents, businesses and community groups to deliver a range of projects, agreed with Historic England, which aim to renew and rejuvenate Leominster's High Street and Conservation Area. The major investment has already transformed buildings with improvements to structure and facades to reflect the original detail, restoring local historic character and heritage features. Cllr Philip Price, Cabinet Member Transport and Infrastructure, said: “Winning this funding was an incredibly competitive process and involved a lot of effort from the council and our local partners, so we are delighted to be carrying out these improvement works for the benefit of Leominster. Once finished, the enhancements will be beautiful and be a boost to the aesthetics and accessibility of the Town Centre that will bring benefits to local people and businesses for years to come.” The works were originally intended to be completed in September, but delays due to drainage and sourcing of materials means the anticipated completion date is now the end of November, with some ongoing work to continue in Corn Square. Cllr Price continued: “It is always a challenge when working with older structures, and some of the issues we have discovered have unfortunately led to the delays experienced. However, we are committed to doing the job thoroughly and with the long-term in mind, so where defects have been found we have fixed them rather than leaving them to be discovered down the line, and we will continue this approach. “It can sometimes take longer than any of us would like to properly identify potential problems and the appropriate solution. As such, we are aware of the inconvenience to Leominster that will have been caused by the delays incurred by drainage and materials sourcing issues, so to help provide a boost to local businesses we are implementing a number of measures.” These include: Free Parking – from 7 August two hours free parking in Etnam Street Car Park for the duration of the improvement work. Additional promotion of Leominster – funding to be provided by Herefordshire Council to support the promotion of events and festivals in Leominster. A total of £2,500 will be made available and we will be liaising with local businesses and Leominster Town Council on how this can be allocated most effectively. Support for events affected by the work – we understand the extension of this work may impact on planned events. We are keen to ensure the events continue and we will provide support to the organisers to help facilitate these where possible. Signage – Some businesses and residents have expressed concern about the placement of signs and safety barriers. We are committed to minimising disruption where possible and if notified of any concerns we will work with the contractors to alter signage. Herefordshire County Business Improvement District have also separately committed to support businesses in Leominster. Cllr Price concluded: “We are committed to working with the local community, and there will be a residents and businesses meeting on Tuesday 23 July at Grange Court from 5.30pm. This is a great opportunity for local people to find out more, ask questions, and express any concerns or issues they may have.”

NON-MATERIAL AMENDMENT APPLICATION AMENDMENT OF PLANNING PERMISSION REF: 231703 THREE COUNTIES HOTEL, BELMONT, HEREFORD, HR2 7BP Carney Sweeney (planning consultants) has submitted the following covering letter. On behalf of our client Lidl Great Britain Ltd, this application is submitted for a non-material amendment to the wording of conditions 3-7 attached to planning permission ref: 231703. Permission ref. 231703 was granted on 15 March 2024 for the following: "Demolition of existing hotel and associated structures and erection of Class E foodstore with associated access, parking, servicing, drainage and landscaping." Proposal Works associated with the demolition of the former hotel buildings are a specialist element of the construction process and consequently programmed to be carried out by a specialist contractor rather than a general contractor which will carry out the subsequent construction of the Lidl store.. Furthermore, and partly in response to a desire to limit the potential for criminal activity at the site, there is a strong desire to carry out the demolition activity as early as possible (in late 2024), before the General Contractor has been chosen and appointed. As currently drafted the conditions do not recognise the separate nature of the demolition works and the subsequent construction works and consequently it is not possible to fully discharge the conditions until the main contractor is appointed. In order to facilitate the separate phased nature of the works this application proposes amended wording to allow information in respect of the demolition phase of works to be submitted and approved separately to information in respect of the construction phase of works. CoveringLetter 2.pdf

Free Parking in Ross-on-Wye Oh look, just 7 minutes later, a quick opportunity to score some interaction and more clicks! 👇 Of course they don't follow our every posts 😂 Hereford Voice - Leading The Way 😉

At around 7.05pm yesterday (Thursday 4 July) officers were called to a fire on Charles Witts Avenue in Hereford. When officers arrived a 33-year-old man was sadly found dead at the scene. His death is being treated as suspicious and an investigation is underway. A woman, aged 56, was taken to hospital for further treatment. A 30-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder and remains in police custody while enquiries continue. Detective Inspector Catherine Taylor, said: “Police, accompanied by fire and ambulance services, attended a house fire last night, where a man was found to have suffered serious injuries. Sadly, he was pronounced dead at the scene. “His death is currently being treated as suspicious and an investigation has been launched to establish the circumstances. At this stage all lines of enquires are being explored. Our thoughts are with the man’s family at this difficult time.”

Jesse Norman (Conservative) holds his seat in Hereford and South Herefordshire Full results below 👇

Ellie Chowns (Green) wins seat from Sir Bill Wiggin in North Herefordshire Full results for North Herefordshire below 👇

The 34-year-old serial killer was on trial at Manchester Crown Court accused of the attempted murder of a baby girl, known as Child K. It comes after she was convicted last August of the murder of seven babies. Lucy Letby appearing in the dock at Manchester Crown Court (Elizabeth Cook/PA) (PA Wire) The 34-year-old was convicted of attempting to murder the child, referred to in court as Baby K, following a retrial. In a statement, Baby K's family described having to endure a "long, torturous and emotional journey - twice". "Today, justice has been served. But it does not take away the extreme hurt, anger and distress that we have all had to experienced," they said. Last August, Letby was convicted by a different jury of the murders of seven babies and the attempted murders of six others at the Countess of Chester Hospital's neo-natal unit between June 2015 and June 2016. However, a verdict on the allegation relating to Baby K could not be reached, and a retrial was ordered, heard at Manchester Crown Court.

Whitbread, the owner of Beefeater, announced plans earlier this year to close 126 of its "lower-performing" restaurants due to a drop in foot traffic at some sites. A spokeswoman for Whitbread told the Hereford Voice that Beefeater locations in Hereford and Ross-on-Wye will close this week. "After many years serving the community we can confirm the Starting Gate and Travellers Rest are closing their doors on July 5. We are committed to working hard to enable as many as possible of our affected team members to stay with us by taking other vacancies across the business through recruitment." Both restaurants are attached to Premier Inn hotels, also owned by Whitbread. Plans to run the Beefeater in Hereford as a Premier Inn restaurant for the time being have been confirmed, but only for the use of the hotel guests. Whitbread, which operates more than 840 Premier Inn hotels in the UK (as well as a further 51 in Germany), has decided to close some of its less profitable food and beverage outlets in an effort to improve the overall business’ performance.

Today is Armed Forces Day 🇬🇧 This was apparently a more important topic👇 We then reiterated our gratitude to our armed forces with our topic at 08:24 👇 This promoted a quick response... just 3 minutes! (we reckon this could be a new record, of course we're not leading the way for others to follow 😉) It's all in the timing 🙂

Good to see the progress of the work at the Blackfriars Stand at Hereford FC ⚽ Our topic created a very swift response within 9 minutes 😉 Now on a roll.. 😀

The roads across Herefordshire are in a terrible state however, let's show the roads that have been resurfaced We are clearly the benchmark place to go for ideas for topics 🤔 👇

Herefordshire Crematorium has joined the growing list of crematorium and cemeteries nationwide to join the ‘Letters to Heaven’ initiative, which gives grieving people a chance to send messages to their departed loved ones. The idea first came about when a young girl in Nottinghamshire expressed a wish to send letters to her grandparents, and the concept has been adopted in Local Authority areas across the country. In 2023, Hereford Crematorium was contacted by two local ladies who had been impressed by the story and wanted to see if something similar could be done in Hereford. The Crematorium then purchased a white post box and Ursells of Ross, local memorial masons, kindly donated the memorial book which explains the purpose of the post box. The boxes are free for anyone to post a letter to their loved ones, or, if it is a special occasion, they can post birthday cards, anniversary cards, Mother's Day and Father's Day cards, Christmas cards and holiday postcards. Letters, messages, or cards posted in the boxes will be treated respectfully, and will never be opened or read. John Gibbon, Direct Services Manager at Hereford Crematorium said: “We are pleased to be a part of the ‘Letters to Heaven’ initiative. Losing a loved one is the most difficult experience any of us will go through in life, and writing these letters, which are treated sensitively and confidentially, will hopefully be a help to people working through the grieving process.”

📣 UPDATE | How To Temporarily Access Belmont Medical Centre Surgery. Following on from the incident in which a vehicle crashed into the Doctors Surgery last Thursday morning, see our news article here 👉 https://hfd.news/ibVlu, as you can see the surgery is boarded up, as the building is possibly unsafe in the area which took the impact. Thankfully nobody was seriously hurt, which is a miracle, two people were given medical attention at the scene. The surgery offer the following advice: ▪️If you have an appointment please report to the window. ▪️Prescription inquired can be posted via the letter box or by email belmont.prescriptions@nhs.net ▪️All enquires to be made by telephone on 01432 354366 (not the window). #HerefordVoice | #HerefordNews | #HerefordshireNews | #HerefordCommunity | #HerefordLife | #HerefordZone | #Hereford

Sad News As Hereford Lads Club FC Pull Out Of Hellenic League Premier Division And Hereford Leagues With Immediate Effect 𝗖𝗟𝗨𝗕 𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗧 "It is with deep disappointment that we wish to inform you that the Hereford Lads Club 1st Team, Lads Club Reserves and Lads Club Colts will be pulling out of the Hellenic League Premier Division and Herefordshire Leagues with immediate effect. Following years, and in the case of many of us, decades of hard work, we are disappointed to find ourselves in the position that we find ourselves in. Lads Club committee feel there is no place for senior football for these teams. Over the past 10 years, we’ve progressed from the Herefordshire leagues, to Step Five and the Hellenic League Premier Division. We’ve progressed as a team, but unfortunately a number of decisions made by the Club, it’s Chairman and Trustees, mean that we are no longer in a position where we can continue. The budget offered by the club for the forthcoming season is around half of what we believe would even give us a chance of remaining in this division, plus with other local clubs showing ambition and working at getting extra sponsorship to remain sustainable, the lack of effort from those above us at the club mean that we are fighting a tougher battle every week. We’d like to thank all the players who have played for us over the years, many of them without getting paid. Whether it’s promotions, the County Cup winning season or cup runs, we have plenty of memories to take away from this memorable spell at the club. We’d also like to thank those people who supported us over the years, whether it be by attending fixtures or through sponsorship. It’s meant a lot to us and we can’t thank you enough. It’s been an incredibly difficult decision to make, but we only wish the club could’ve matched our ambition for a stable, competitive club in Step Five. More information in the next few days of thanks and moments in our history will be posted. Thank you for the memories. Daniel Moon, John Haycox and Stephen Ellerton" Hereford Voice - This is such sad news, thank you for all that you have done for the club.