Hereford Voice

Council Tax set to rise by 4.99% as council faces long-term Covid-19 cost pressures on its budget Full Council has approved the 2021/22 budget today (12 February 2021). This includes the setting of Herefordshire Council tax rates which will come into effect from April 2021. The final budget takes into account the 2021/22 final local government finance settlement announced by central government. This includes: A new ‘Lower Tier’ Services Grant of £0.25m Revenue Support Grant funding of £0.6m New Homes Bonus funding of £1.7m Rural Services Delivery Grant of £5.3m The council is continuing to face long-term Covid-19 cost pressures on its budget. The council has looked first to find savings within its core activities to offset these costs. This has resulted in £11.2m in savings being identified across the council’s services – the largest one-year saving this council has ever had to make. Councillor Liz Harvey, Cabinet Member for Finance and Corporate Services, said: Council Tax funds around 29% of the council’s budget. A 4.99% total increase to Council Tax has been recommended. This is an equivalent rise of £1.51 a week for a Band D property. The increase is made from a 3% increase to the ‘adult social care precept’ and 1.99% increase to ‘core Council Tax’. In total this will provide £3.2m towards the cost of council services. Residents on a low income may be eligible for help to pay their bill through the Council Tax Reduction scheme. Some residents will continue to pay no Council Tax at all, such as young adults who have left care and, with effect from 2021, also all the council’s Foster Carer families.

Charles Byrne, aged 24, from Waterworks Road, Worcester, has been charged with murder and attempt murder. He is remanded to Kidderminster Magistrates’ Court to appear tomorrow (Friday 12 February). He was charged in relation to an incident that occurred in Worcester on Wednesday 10 February.

They were not given permission for a trail and this is still ongoing we spoke with Cllr Harrington about this earlier today.

At Hereford Voice our slogan has always been 'Having Your Say' and through our network we are going to give you the opportunity to ask your questions to some of our Councillors. Cabinet Member - Infrastructure and Transport Councillor John Harrington has agreed to be put under the spotlight to answer your questions in the first of our 'exclusive' Q & A sessions. Rules: Abuse will Not be tolerated and offensive comments will be deleted and may also result in that person being banned. Please ask sensible questions on any subject that Cllr Harrington maybe able to address and answer in his capacity at Herefordshire Council. Hereford Link Roads (Bypass) Turning Off Traffic Lights or making them Part-Time (Hereford Voice Campaigns) River Crossings Closure of the Old Bridge Pot Holes Maylord Orchards Shopping Centre Electric Buses Roundabouts Please ask your questions below 👇 and Councillor Harrington will answer as many as he can in a video which we will publish over the weekend.

New ‘Kickstart’ scheme will benefit local businesses and give 16-24 year olds the opportunity to gain work experience Herefordshire Council is set to support local young people and businesses through being a gateway organisation for the delivery of the government’s Kickstart scheme in the county. Across the UK younger people have been some of those worst affected economically by the pandemic. In Herefordshire there has been a 108% increase in people aged between 18 and 24 claiming out of work benefits since March 2020. As part of the Covid-19 recovery programme, the Kickstart scheme will provide 6-month work experience placements to 16 to 24 year olds receiving Universal Credit and at risk of long term unemployment. The Kickstart scheme fully meets the salary and costs for each placement, as well as providing the individual with skills and wrap around support during their placement - such as coaching, mentoring, work skills including supporting job applications, CV writing and interview skills. Cllr Ellie Chowns, cabinet member for Environment, Economy and Skills, said: Hoople will lead the delivery of the scheme on behalf of the council, and will support 105 placements in 22 of the organisations that have offered placements to date, including 30 within the council and Hoople. It is anticipated that the number of placements may increase, as once selected as a ‘gateway’ it is possible to request support for additional placements as they become available up until end of December 2021. Employers have a choice to either access Kickstart through a gateway employer or apply directly to DWP. Further information about the Kickstart scheme.

These are the plans said Infrastructure and transport cabinet member John Harrington and work on this will begin immediately. The original Western link road would have taken at least 10-12 years so this is the best and fastest option. #herefordvoice #herefordnews #hereford

Alister Walshe has announced he is stepping down as Chair and Trustee of St Michael’s Hospice. Mr Walshe has been involved with the Bartestree-based charity for over 17 years but says the time has come to hand over to someone else. Mr Walshe started offering his experience as a volunteer in the gardens and then became a Trustee. For the last 11 years he’s been the Chair of the Trustees. Mr Walshe, who owns Hereford-based estate agency Stooke Hill & Walshe, said so many people help to make the Hospice a success. Mr Walshe’s successor will be announced by the end of March. Mike Keel, the Hospice’s Chief Executive, said the Chairman leaves big boots to fill. The Volunteers and staff wish him well and look forward to hearing who his successor is.

The Castle Green Pavilion project will enhance a much-loved but neglected community asset, open up access to the River Wye and add significantly to the infrastructure of Hereford’s visitor economy. The refurbished pavilion will provide a revitalised home for the Youth Canoe Club, cafe facilities, a multifunctional and flexible community meeting space and a gallery celebrating local arts and heritage. The Pavilion has the potential to become the heart of creative and innovative youth development in the city. RATIONALE Developing the Pavilion brings a “whole day offer” to people visiting Hereford. We will add to commercial developments in the city by balancing the strong retail development on the north-west of the city with an art and heritage offer on the south-east side; all in walking distance, giving visitors a chance to enjoy the essence of the city’s rural/urban feel. There is also huge potential for Castle Green to become the Festival Village for Hereford, having successfully hosted large scale events with up to 3,500 people on site. The green is a natural amphitheatre and with the transformed Pavilion as the anchor point, Castle Green can become nationally recognised as a vibrant space of culture, commerce, and community activity. This project will support Hereford’s creative sector and underperforming visitor economy, delivering the Towns Fund Intervention Framework objective of: Improved arts, cultural and heritage offer that is more visible and easier for residents/visitors to access. FUNDING Total Cost: £1,560,000 | Towns Fund: £1,560,000 Towns Fund will facilitate the full refurbishment of the Pavilion.

That's a completely seperate budget altogther.

Herefordshire Council teams have recently completed a programme of resurfacing and drainage works on A44 - Noakes Bridge to The Farthings near Bromyard. Stay updated with latest roadworks HERE #herefordvoice #herefordnews #positivehereford

Stronger Hereford This scheme is part of the collective proposed projects planned for Hereford (see pdf attachment) and will establish a transformational world-class contemporary facility in the heart of Hereford with the capacity to accommodate our globally and nationally significant heritage assets such as the Magna Carta, Herefordshire Hoard and collections of antiquities dating back to the Ice Age, in addition to hosting national and international exhibitions. The redevelopment will embrace the latest technologies such as Virtual Reality to tell the story of Herefordshire and the wider Welsh Marches region. The new museum will aim to attract progressive funding for heritage, culture and the arts to facilitate educational and cultural activity in the city and county, to strengthen community cohesion and engagement and to support the development of job opportunities in Hereford’s cultural sector. FUNDING Total Cost: £15,000,000 | Towns Fund: £5,000,000 Matched Funding: £10,000,000 Towns Fund and match-funding will support the full refurbishment of the current Broad Street Museum and Library building to EnerPHit design standards to minimise its carbon footprint. This scheme is part of the collective proposed projects planned for Hereford (see pdf attachment) by StrongerHereford and will establish a transformational world-class contemporary facility in the heart of Hereford with the capacity to accommodate our globally and nationally significant heritage assets such as the Magna Carta, Herefordshire Hoard and collections of antiquities dating back to the Ice Age, in addition to hosting national and international exhibitions. The StrongerHereford Vision Plans and projects also include redevelopments Maylord Library & Learning Resource Centre Holmer Extreme Sports Hub Castle Green Pavilion Meadow Arts Encore Music Hub Digital Culture Hub Electric Buses River Wye Infrastructure Southside Scheme Greening the City Powerhouse Project Soil from the City NMTE Future of Work Hub HCA School of Creative Digital Futures #StrongerHereford #herefordvoice #hereford #positivehereford S20098D-Hereford-TIP-Document-NEW-FINAL-1.pdf

Police are appealing for witnesses or information after five puppies were stolen from a farm in Upper Swell overnight. Three female and two male Border Collie puppies were stolen from an outhouse at a farm sometime between 8pm on Friday 5 February and 6am on Saturday 6 February. Unknown offenders have stolen the four week old puppies worth approximately £600 each. They are all black and white with the males also having brown markings on their faces. Anyone who witnessed any suspicious activity in the area at the time, or has any information is asked to contact police on 101 quoting incident 125 of 6 February. If you want to provide information anonymously you can call independent crime-fighting charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Alternatively, you can submit information via this form online: #herefordvoice #herefordnews #herefordshire

Yesterday they helped rescue a cat from the river and today they’ve been out with their colleagues from Bromyard Fire Station helping get a horse out of a ditch he’d fallen into this morning. 32 yr old Shirenski found himself in an awkward position and was unable to get up. Great teamwork from the crews, his owners, neighbours and the vet...resulted in Shirenski getting back on to his feet after a few hours. Another wonderful rescue story from professional and dedicated firefighters who do a lot more work besides tackling fires 📷 HWFRS Leominster #herefordvoice #herefordshirenews #herefordshire

A cat had got himself into a tricky situation yesterday morning...stuck in a precarious position by the fast flowing river right outside the fire station in Leominster. Together with additional assistance with their colleagues from Tenbury and Hereford fire stations attempts were made to rescue him and after a brief dip in the river, the cat managed to self rescue further down stream. A wonderful rescue story from professional and dedicated firefighters who do a lot more work besides tackling fires. 📷 HW Fire & Rescue Service Leominster #herefordvoice #herefordnews #herefordshire

COVID-19 testing units remain in Hereford and Leominster One of Herefordshire’s COVID-19 mobile testing units has today (Friday 5 February from 3.30pm) been redeployed to the help the government’s “surge testing” campaign in targeted areas to better understand the spread, and supress, the South African variant. The least-used mobile testing units, which includes the one at Ross-on-Wye, across the country are being reassigned by NHS Test and Trace to work in those areas where cases of the South African variant, which do not appear to have travel links, have been found. The areas affected are Ealing, Haringey and Mitcham in London; Walsall in the West Midlands; Broxbourne in Hertfordshire; Maidstone in Kent; Woking in Surry and Southport in Lancashire. As many people as possible within those targeted areas are being asked to take a test. Herefordshire residents who develop COVID-19 symptoms of a high temperature, a new persistent cough and/or loss of taste or smell, should immediately self-isolate and book a test by going online or ring NHS 119. There are testing sites at Leominster and Merton Meadow, Hereford; as well as Hempstead Meadow, Gloucester; and Como Road, Malvern; or residents can order a postal test kit if they cannot get to one of the sites.Herefordshire’s Acting Director of Public Health Dr Rebecca Howell-Jones said:

Adoption Central England – celebrating three years of supporting children and families in Herefordshire Adoption Central England (ACE) is celebrating three years as a regional adoption agency supporting families in Solihull, Coventry, Warwickshire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire to provide children with a loving permanent adoptive home. In the past year ACE has launched its independent and confidential support service for birth relatives called Family Connexions. The service is available to any birth family member where children in the family have been adopted and supports birth parents through the legal processes involved in adoption and in making necessary life changes. ACE provides continued support for adoptive families and children. This has recently been further enhanced through their DDP (Dyadic Development Psychotherapy practice) certification. This practice is an approach to preparing and working with adoptive families that is underpinned by an understanding of childhood trauma. This in turn helps adoptive parents to parent their adopted children in such a way that recognises this trauma but also allows for secure and loving attachments can be formed. Throughout 2020, ACE has faced the challenges of COVID-19 and adapted to new ways of working ensuring adoptive families and children continue to have access to the support they need. Training is now delivered virtually and with an increase in enquiries, ACE has continued to place children with adoptive parents making sure the necessary coronavirus precautions are in place and keeping in close contact with families through telephone calls and online meetings. To find out more about what it’s like to adopt through ACE, adopter case studies are featured on the ACE Facebook page, providing an insight into the adoption process and what people can expect from the adoption process. Visit the ACE Facebook page @aceadoption. Councillor Felicity Norman, Herefordshire Council Cabinet Member for Children and Families, added: “ACE has gone from strength to strength during the three years since it became established. ACE has continually developed its practice to ensure it can provide a quality service for children across the five authorities that make up ACE and has stepped up to the challenges everyone across the sector has faced in the last year due to COVID-19, to ensure services have continued to be provided.” In order to find the best possible families for children ACE does not set a bar on who can adopt. The service welcomes enquiries from all sections of the community and is particularly looking to recruit more families for sibling groups of 2 or 3 children. Also, older single children usually up to the age of 8 years are waiting for families. There can be many advantages of adopting a sibling group apart from the obvious reward of being able to keep brothers and sisters together. The needs of older children are invariable better known and understood which means that support services may already be in place or can be more readily accessed to help adoptive parents as they start to share their lives with the child. If you would like to know more adoption please go to the ACE website enquiries@aceadoption.com or contact ACE on 0300 369 0556. The Family Connexions service can be contacted at: familyconnexions@aceadoption.com #herefordvoice

Today is 'World Cancer Day', please spare a thought for all those people that are suffering with cancer and let us also celebrate the fantastic work done to help help millions of people around the World who also survive this horrible disease. Locally we are supporting St Michaels Hospice and their '3 Day Music Fest' so while we're not allowed to go to any live music events, Hospice supporters Julian Morris and Glenn Parry are lifting our spirits by staging a virtual, online, 3 day dance music festival, with donations going to St Michael's Hospice. 3 Days, 12 DJ's, 25 hours of music. Friday 5th/Saturday 6th/Sunday 7th February, 2021. Featuring DJ sets from Glenn Parry, Simon Jones, Brian Griffiths, Tristan Bartholomew, DJ Kaos, Stinger, Neil Preedy, mRB & Julian Morris, Gary McCaw, Keel Gardner and Talia K. All streamed live on mixcloud.com For more information and to donate visit the JustGiving page: https://bit.ly/3pCb7Qi

UPDATE: Statement from West Mercia Police

West Mercia Police are asking for the public’s assistance in locating a Worcester man wanted on recall to prison. He has links to Worcester, Malvern and Hereford areas. Anthony Russell Hannay, aged 33, had previously been convicted for a burglary offence and is now wanted for breaching the conditions of this licence. He is described as a white man, approximately 5ft 11 inches tall, medium build with short brown hair and has a tribal tattoo on the right side of his neck. If anyone sees Hannay or knows of his whereabouts they should call 101 and not approach him directly. Alternatively, if you have information but don’t feel comfortable speaking to police, you can speak to the independent charity Crimestoppers. It is 100% anonymous, they never ask your name and they cannot trace your call or I.P address. You can contact them online or by calling 0800 555 111.

Herefordshire Council has taken the decision to cease work on a western bypass for Hereford at Full Council today (Tuesday 2 February 2021). Council has determined to stop the progress of the southern link road and western bypass schemes, which are included in the adopted policy. A suggested amendment was debated but not approved. The decision follows a detailed review of the transport strategy for Hereford which set out to better understand existing and future transport conditions in the city, and to assess alternative options particularly in light of the declared climate and ecological emergency and changes to national transport policy. The votes cast were 27 for, 19 against and 6 abstentions. All 52 councillors were present and voted. The decision means that the Hereford Transport Package will be removed from the council’s capital programme. The council meeting can be viewed again on the council’s Youtube channel.

Sad news today as we learn about the passing of a true hero, Captain Sir Tom Moore, our thoughts go out to his family and friends. RIP.

Hereford City Council have successfully bid for a project for free electric buses to link significant locations around the City, together with the Herefordshire Bus Users Forum. The Railway Station, Hospital, the new Primary Health Centre at Station Approach and the city centre shops and tourist attractions will be linked as part of the Stronger Towns Fund bid to Government. The service will cross over the Old Bridge and stop in the car park by the swimming pool to support the ongoing development of the river as a tourist attraction and link with buses from the south of the city. This is a long-term project, one of many being put forward as groups within the city push for up to £25m of funding to help support economic recovery and levelling up. The independent Towns Fund board (called the #StrongerHereford board) is a blend of people from private, public and community sectors who all have Herefordshire in their heart. They are a mix of parents, students, educators, business owners, employers and employees, creatives and politicians, and Mayor Kath Hey is also among the board, representing the City. The City Council hopes that the project will allow Hereford to continue to recover from the ongoing pandemic, and in the coming months and years ensure the City is better linked for residents and visitors alike. For more information on the Towns Fund Board, visit: www.strongerhereford.co.uk #herefordvoice #herefordnews #hereford

Hereford Cathedral has bid a digital farewell to The Very Revd Michael Tavinor, Dean of Hereford, after 19 years of leadership and ministry. The Dean had originally planned to lead a series of farewell services on Sunday 31 January but, due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, those plans were thwarted. Instead, the cathedral community and many around the county came together online on Sunday morning with a pre-recorded video service sharing memories of Michael’s time in Hereford. As well as messages of thanks from members of the cathedral community, the Archbishop of Canterbury sent his best wishes to the Dean via a special video message. The Very Revd Michael Tavinor said: The Rt Revd Richard Jackson, Bishop of Hereford said: The celebration of the Dean’s farewell service is available to watch on the cathedral’s website (www.herefordcathedral.org/sunday-morning-worship-deans-final-service) or YouTube Channel.