Hereford Voice

Harveys and Benson for Beds enter into Administration. Harveys goes into administration with 240 jobs lost and branches under threat. Bensons for Beds, which is owned by Harveys' owners Blue Group, will see around 50 of its outlets close, leaving between 150 and 175 open. Blue Group formally appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers as administrator on Tuesday. The move leaves the future of Harveys hanging in the balance, with PwC looking for buyers for the business and its three manufacturing plants. Harveys is not currently taking any new orders but will honour existing ones, according to its website Harvey’s have had financial trouble for the past 12 months and have been seeking a new buyer. Most stores were due to re-open today, with staff spending the past two days cleaning showrooms. The two furniture retailers operate from 269 stores across the UK and employs 2700 in total, 700 of which are directly employed at Harvey’s. Both Bensons for Beds and Harvey’s also had a change of hands last November, when former parent company Blue Group was sold off by Steinhoff to Alteri Investors for an undisclosed sum. Alteri Investors, which owns Blue Group, has decided to restructure the business so that Bensons will become a standalone business. Bensons is the second largest bed retailer in the UK behind Dreams in terms of market share.

WIN a Sunday Roast for 2 People at The Den Hereford. "It's what Sundays are all about" We have teamed up with our lovely friends at The Den to celebrate their reopening this coming weekend. To be in with a chance of winning a mouthwatering Sunday roast for two people on Sunday 12th July between 12-4pm (table has already been reserved) pop over to our Facebook page.. 👉 LIKE & SHARE The Den & Hereford Voice FB Pages 👉 Leave a comment telling us your favourite veg or meat 👉 Tag a friend who would love a roast 😜 A lucky winner will be selected at random on Wed 8th July (Entrants MUST at least 16 years of age and available Sunday 12th July 2020) Good Luck 👍 Competition / Giveaway T&C's #HerefordVoice #hvcomps #Hereford #hfdcomps

The iconic British sculpture, The Knife Angel, is coming to Hereford on 1st June 2021. Created to raise awareness around knife crime in the UK, The Knife Angel is made out of 100,000 confiscated knives received from 43 Police Forces across the UK. The sculpture has toured around the Country as a monument against all forms of violence and aggression. Standing at 27ft and weighing 3.5 ton, it is an incredible and powerful sight to behold. Beginning in June 2021, the sculpture will reside at Hereford Cathedral for 28 days. During this, a series of interactive workshops and events will take place, including an opening and closing ceremony, a dedicated youth conference, weapon amnesty and more. The Knife Angel Hereford Team explain who they are; “Alison Davies lost her son Mark to knife crime in December 2018 and together with friends Meryl Cain, Pauline Strong and Jan Jefferies wanted to raise awareness of the catastrophic impact violent crime has on individuals, families and communities. The team’s involvement with this project is carried out on a voluntary basis. The group are known as The Knife Angel Hereford Team.” The team are also looking for help in the form of funding and volunteers. For more information, you can read more by visiting the team’s website: www.knifeangelhereford.co.uk

Military charity support move to new distribution hub An essential role for Herefordshire Council during the Covid-19 response has been to provide Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to staff carrying out critical business. Since the start of the pandemic, the council has been sourcing, buying, distributing and storing PPE stock for non-NHS settings across the county. Many care providers have had difficulty accessing PPE due to high national demand, so the council has also provided free PPE to these sites. Since early April the Council has provided care providers with over 6 million pieces of PPE including over 1.2 million surgical face masks. As we prepare to live with the long-term impact of Covid-19, the council has created a new Herefordshire PPE hub with support from Operation RE:ACT, Team Rubicon UK’s response to the Covid-19 outbreak. Nigel Jones, the team leader for RE-ACT and his amazing team of volunteers gave up their own time to help the council pack, load and relocate around 25 pallets of vital PPE to a new, secure location. Alistair Neill, Herefordshire Council’s Chief Executive, said: Herefordshire Council and Operation RE:ACT were also assisted by: Eagle Plant Hire Hereford, who provided the Council free use of a self-drive Manitou fork lift; this was expertly driven by Cllr Jim Kenyon. DLT Training Ltd Bridgend in South Wales, who provided the Council with a large van and volunteer driver; Total Produce Foodservice Hereford who provided the Council with a large van and another volunteer driver; Herefordshire Council’s library service who filled up with PPE and drove the library van between the old and new PPE sites.

Herefordshire Council have fast-tracked a 7 day order to close the Old Bridge to northbound traffic by converting the road to a pedestrian and cyclist only route. Buses will still be able to use the route. These decisions have been made behind closed doors as it's a seven day order there is no public consultation required, is this transparent enough❓ There are many concerns by local businesses about a huge potential loss of trade. We understand that traders were notified on June 20 with the consultation ending on June 23 People living south of Hereford will be most inconvenienced by these changes, If you needed to drive into the city centre your main route would be to drive to the Steels roundabout northbound to then come back southbound to gain access into Broad St and King St. Motorists could attempt to turn right into St. Nicholas St but that junction at best only allows one or two vehicles to cross before the lights change. Additional cycles routes and reduced speed limits are welcome but are these changes going to cause more traffic mayhem particularly if the Greyfriars bridge becomes blocked? The measures in Hereford are shown on the attached map and comprise: - 20mph zones - On street cycle lanes - Footway widening - Extension to the city centre timed closure - Closure of the old Wye Bridge to all but buses and cycles The measures are temporary and although they have a maximum period of 18 months, they will be monitored and retained only for as long as necessary. If a measure is felt to be suitable for retention in the long term, a fully TRO process with consultation will be required.

The sports hall at Hereford Leisure Centre is used to seeing groups of people come together to get active, but recently it has welcomed a new type of team which has been flexing its muscles and pulling together for an entirely different reason. Hereford Leisure Centre may be currently closed to the public but for the past 3 months it has played an essential role as the Emergency Delivery Hub for the County. The large space in the sports hall and good road access meant it was ideally positioned to receive and distribute supplies, with the centre able to adapt at short notice to its new community role. Matt Smith, Hereford Leisure Centre Manager said, Cllr David Hitchiner, Leader of Herefordshire Council, said Matt went on to say,

We do not publish national news articles very often and would prefer to keep our network for Herefordshire however, because of all the hard work already done in trying to contain the virus and the dedication from the NHS and other key workers, we felt compelled to post this article because if people continue to ignore the guidelines we may end up with a second wave. We have all seen the pictures of thousands of people flocking to the beaches this week across the UK during this period of hot weather. Bournemouth beach was a classic example and a major incident was declared yesterday after thousands ignored health advice, with widespread anti-social behaviour, gridlocked roads and huge crowds on the hottest day of the year. Bournemouth East MP Tobias Elwood said 500,000 visitors were in Dorset yesterday – almost as many people as living in the county. Maybe Bournemouth council should take some responsibility here for not putting social distancing measures in place...But people should equally be responsible for their own actions. This was Bournemouth Beach yesterday Photo courtesy of The Telegraph - Bournemouth Beach We should look at other countries to see how they are creating safer beach environments for the public. This is a brilliant example of how they should apply social distancing at Jesolo Beach in Italy Photo courtesy os Skyline Webcams - Jesolo Beach Italy View the LIVE Jesolo Beach webcam here It can't be that difficult surely.. your thoughts?

In the governments final daily briefing broadcast yesterday chief Medical Office Chris Whitty reminds us.. Boris Johnson announced social distancing rules will be eased, allowing pubs, restaurants, hotels and hairdressers to open from 4 July in England. The prime minister said people should remain two metres apart where possible, but that a "one metre plus" rule would follow.

Herefordshire Council have made a u-turn from last week when they reintroduced parking charges only offering a free 30 minute window as we reported in this article however, today there is some better news for local businesses as the council have now completely lifted the charges altogether for the best part of a month to help businesses recover from the Covid-19 lockdown. Parking charges lifted temporarily in town and city car parks to support business To support local business during this particularly difficult time and encourage people to visit their high street rather than shop on-line, Herefordshire Council is offering free parking on street and in council car parks* from Saturday 27 June until Friday 24 July 2020. Cllr John Harrington, Cabinet member for infrastructure and transport explains: Resident parking and other restrictions will be enforced. *Excludes Friar St Military Club car park, at their request

B4224 FOWNHOPE UPDATE | The grading of the bank is nearly complete and a cellular membrane has been applied to help stabilise erosion (see pictures). Top soil will be applied next before the work begins to reinstate the road. The estimated reopening of the road is still Autumn.

Restricted opening of bars, pubs, cafes and restaurants Potentially on Saturday 4 July, the Government may allow bars, pubs, cafes and restaurants to reopen, but there is still some debate as to what will be permitted, what social distancing measures will be adopted and in what form. Herefordshire Council press release 👇

Herefordshire tourism project awarded £440,000 of Marches LEP funding A major campaign to help Herefordshire's tourism and visitor economy recover from the devastating impact of the coronavirus lockdown and February’s flooding has been awarded £440,000 by the Marches Local Enterprise Partnership The money will help launch a co-ordinated drive to promote the county as a fantastic, safe destination for day trips and also staycations if the lockdown restrictions ease sufficiently. It is part of a £1.6million package of funding agreed by the Marches LEP across Herefordshire, Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin to support businesses hardest hit by the Covid-19 crisis and earlier flooding. Herefordshire Business Board and Herefordshire Council are behind the plan to promote the county’s huge range of tourism attractions, retail and leisure opportunities to both local and national markets. Their plan includes developing a new destination website supported by a smartphone app and local and national marketing and PR campaigns to attract day trippers and families and couples seeking staycations as soon as it is safe to do so. Mandy Thorn MBE DL, chair of the Marches LEP, said the partnership was delighted to support the initiative. Frank Myers MBE, chair of Herefordshire Business Board, said the plan would help support the tourism, hospitality, leisure and cultural economy as well as parts of the local retail and manufacturing sectors. Councillor Ellie Chowns, cabinet member for environment, economy and skills, said: The majority of the LEP funding has come from loan repayments from previous job-creating investment projects the partnership has supported.

High School fundraising in memory of Kieran Joyce has so far reached £7,650 and the just giving page will still be open for a couple more weeks, you can donate HERE Kieran Joyce was 15 when he died in September last year from a previously undiagnosed heart condition. Students at Weobley High School started the 7-11 challenge to get active and raise money for Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY). George West the PE teacher at Weobley High School wrote to us today to express his sincere thanks below. Kind regards George West PE Teacher Weobley High School

Riverside Primary School in Hereford is taking part in a new national government study to assess and monitor the prevalence of Covid-19 among pre-school, primary and secondary school pupils and teachers. On the launch of the study, which will initially collect data from up to 100 schools from across England, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: Pupils and staff at Riverside Primary School will be tested weekly until the end of the summer term for Covid-19. Results will be returned within 72 hours with plans in place if there are any positive test results. Emma Shearer, Headteacher of Riverside Primary School said: Herefordshire Council has been working closely with Public Health England to support the school to take part, and parents, staff and governors have been consulted as part of the process and preparation. Karen Wright, Director of Public Health in Herefordshire added:

Hundreds of businesses across Herefordshire that did not meet the criteria for previous government Covid-19 grants could now benefit from a discretionary grant fund. To date, around £55.2m has been paid out to more than 4,700 businesses in the county in government grant funding support in response to the impact of Covid-19, however not all businesses have been eligible for these grants. The government has now introduced an additional discretionary grants fund which will help provide assistance to some of the businesses that have not had access to other support schemes. The discretionary grants fund managed by Herefordshire Council will award grants reflecting the size of business, level of fixed property costs and scale of impact experienced. The amount of funding the council has received is limited at £3.2m, so there is a set of eligibility criteria which each applicant will need to meet. Businesses eligible to receive this new funding must be a small or micro business, charity, or social enterprises with a turnover of not more than £10.2m and fewer than 50 staff. Applicants must be either a small businesses in shared offices or other flexible workspaces; market traders with fixed building costs who do not have their own business rates assessment; bed & breakfasts which pay council tax instead of business rates or charity properties in receipt of charitable business rates relief. Cllr Ellie Chowns, Cabinet Member for Environment, Economy and Skills, said: Applications must be received by 23:59, Sunday 28 June 2020. Further details, the full eligibility criteria for businesses and how to apply can be found on the Herefordshire Council website at www.herefordshire.gov.uk/discretionarygrant

The purchase will enable the council to safeguard and decide the destiny of this facility in the heart of Hereford Herefordshire Council has today (Friday 12 June 2020) purchased the leasehold interest and a section of additional freehold in the Maylord shopping centre in Hereford. The council had retained the freehold of most the four-acre site since it was developed in the late 1980s. Acquiring the site allows the council to take full control and decide the future of the facility.Councillor Gemma Davies, Cabinet member for commissioning procurement and assets, explains the reasons why the purchase of Maylord shopping centre is so important: A management company will fully manage the site including rental and maintenance requirements. This provides the expertise for managing the site’s running and doesn’t require additional council resource. The fees of the management company will be covered by rental income

Car park users in Hereford will be able to enjoy 30 minutes of free parking, to make it easier for people to make essential visits. In response to covid-19, Herefordshire Council recognises that there may be many people who need to visit the city centre for essential reasons such as to visit pharmacies. To make this easier, and support local businesses, parking for up to 30 minutes in on street pay and display in Hereford will be free, until 6 July 2020. Herefordshire Council ceased charging at the start of the Covid-19 outbreak so that residents could go about their essential business without the need to find money for parking and enable them to limit social interaction. Parking charges are an essential element in the operation of our city and market town centres. By charging for parking, we are able to limit the length of time vehicles are parked in one place, which allows for greater freedom of movement and more opportunity to find a parking space for all our residents. The council are continuing to support NHS and Critical Care staff during this period by providing free parking, which can be arranged through their employer. Free short stay on street parking is also available in all of the market towns.Cllr John Harrington, Cabinet Member for Infrastructure and Transport, said: To avoid receiving a Penalty Charge Notice please park considerately and comply with the parking regulations that are in place. If you have a parking problem please contact parking services at civilparkingenforcement@herefordshire.gov.uk

Beattie Avenue, Hereford will be closed from Monday, 15th June for eight months whilst residential development and highway modification works are completed by Harper Group. Please see attached diversion map.

Monsoon Accessorize stores to close as 545 jobs to be axed, unfortunately Hereford store will remain closed. Fashion chain Monsoon Accessorize is to make more than 500 staff redundant after being bought out of administration last night. Monsoon Accessorize’s founder Peter Simon bought the brands and intellectual property, the head office and design teams, and its distribution centre in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire – but not the stores. Around 450 jobs were transferred to Adena Brands, the new group company, while 35 shops have permanently closed and 545 staff were made redundant. The stores which it expects to permanently close are... Basildon Bexleyheath Burton-on-Trent Camberley Canterbury Carlisle Chelmsford Cork Patrick Street A, Republic of Ireland Cork Patrick Street B, Republic of Ireland Crawley Derby Dublin, Republic of Ireland Hereford Hitchin Huddersfield Kilkenny Lancaster Lincoln Liverpool Airport Maidenhead Maidston Middlesbrough Newark Newtownabbey Northampton Southend St Albans Staines Sutton Coldfield Taunton Telford Trowbridg Truro Tunbridge Wells York Davygate

Car parking charges will come back into force from Monday 15 June in line with Government advice regarding the lifting of lockdown In line with Government advice regarding the lifting of lockdown car parking charges will come back into force from Monday 15 June. On 24 March, car parking charges were suspended across the county and the focus of parking enforcement activity has been on tackling unsafe parking, providing free parking for NHS workers and supporting the police to enforce social distancing. The need for good parking management is now greater than ever as the economy recovers, and businesses rely on the population returning to the high streets. The demand for parking is expected to increase significantly as the lockdown eases, and charges are required to effectively manage parking and vehicle movements. The country bus station car park in Hereford will remain free for NHS staff so that they can continue to be supported, while work is on-going in relation to their future parking requirements. Holders of a resident parking permit that has expired or is due to expire, are advised to submit an application if they haven’t already done so. Cllr John Harrington, Cabinet Member for Infrastructure and Transport, said: To avoid receiving a Penalty Charge Notice please park considerately and comply with the parking regulations that are in place. If you have a parking problem please contact parking services at civilparkingenforcement@herefordshire.gov.uk

Denise click on the forums tab and select the most appropriate forum in this case I would have selected just the Open forum as you have selected Hereford Voice Projects forum, so I have moved it for you.

Herefordshire have advised that on June 22 Home Point will launch its improved housing allocations scheme to make applying and bidding for properties easier, with more choice over the types of housing people in Herefordshire can apply for 👉 HERE

Hillside Care Centre opens to health and social care patients but Herefordshire Council have their locations mixed up. ℹ️ According the the press release from Herefordshire Council, this was the site of the former Hillside Ballroom however, this is not the case! That site that the Council is referring to we knew it as the 'Flamingo' or it was more commonly known as the 'Hostel'. This venue was in Mayberry Avenue nearer to the top and NOT at this location where the Council have re-opened the Hillside Care Centre. Council press release below: 👇 👇 Former music venue site re-opens to support the NHS through the coronavirus outbreak. The site of a former Herefordshire music venue that has hosted some of best known bands in the 60s has been brought back into use by Herefordshire Council and is now open as a care and rehabilitation facility for health and social care admissions. Owned and managed by the council, the 22 bed unit at Redhill has undergone a complete refurbishment to the highest standard. The Hillside Centre will provide patient care and rehabilitation services to some of the county’s most vulnerable residents and will help to relieve the pressure on the NHS during the current Covid-19 pandemic. The Hillside site has a sentimental attachment for many local residents due to its musical history. Before being rebuilt as an NHS community hospital, it was once home to the ‘Hillside Ballroom’ which hosted some of the music industry’s well known faces during the 60s, including the Rolling Stones, The Who, The Kinks, Jerry Lee Lewis and Status Quo. Cult star, Screaming Lord Sutch, is also known to have made a lasting impression with his performance at Hillside, long before he formed the Monster Raving Loony party. Bringing the building back into use as a care facility is just the first positive step for the future of Hillside, as the council continues to explore further redevelopment options for the centre. The council is looking to create a specialist facility that focuses on long term care for older members of the community who are living with aged related conditions, including individuals diagnosed with dementia. The project also includes plans for a sensory garden for dementia patients, in memory of the popular Herefordshire councillor and Greyfriars GP, Dr Robin Andrews, who lost his battle with cancer in 2001. Councillor Pauline Crockett, Cabinet Member for Health and Adult Wellbeing said:

The traffic queues along the A465 Belmont Road lasted all afternoon and into this evening.. This afternoon This afternoon Just before 20.00 Still queuing at 21.00

Plans have been submitted for the proposed repair and replacement of timber-frame infill panels and both externally and internally at the Black & White House Museum in Hereford city centre. The Black & White House Museum, formerly the Old House Museum, is a Grade I listed, timber-framed merchants house, constructed in 1621, and situated in its original location in High Town, Hereford. Its external and internal fabric has experienced several phases of change over the preceding centuries with the most comprehensive changes occurring in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Further maintenance is now required. Misc.pdf