megilleland

Here is the official reason for refusal of planning permission at the time. 6450155 (1).pdf

Musn't stand in the way of progress. Any trees left after the fracking starts will have to go. Makes the Edgar Street saga look like a bit of light pruning. Remember this is the government that wanted to sell off the nation's forests a few years ago.

Government to stop funding for low-income families facing emergencies See post above.

You will like this comment Colin! Budget 2014/15 Consultation 6.3 Ideas and suggestions about doing things differently Most frequent suggestions are about reducing operational costs, e.g. staff, councillors, ICT, managing money better. Other suggestions include: • Charge take-away shops an extra fee because of litter • Spend on the basics • Charge for more services • Need to encourage more businesses – suggestion of mentoring scheme for new firms • Charges should be based on number of people living in household • Volunteers could find tax evaders Even though the shops can't stay open to earn the money to pay the fee! No - fine the public who drop it and get the police to enforce it. Oh I forgot this is about the police trying to save money by not deploying additional weekend officers and nothing more!

Some highlights taken from Equality Impact of Budget Proposals. Manage demographic pressures/improvements in Demand Management †providing people who do not have "eligible" adult social care needs with information, advice and guidance on how to live independantly and if they wish to purchase care and support, how they can do this. Proposed budget savings 2014/15 £1,160,000 (Your on your own from now on) Remove funding for non-eligible services Proposed budget savings 2014/15 £900,000 (Who decides - the secret six) Reducing the amount we spend on highways and public spaces whilst prioritising road repairs Proposed budget savings 2014/15 £1,132,000 (aren't Balfour Beatty supposed to repairing the roads and cutting the grass. Should be able to do with £20 million every year) Parks †Reducing spending on parks and open spaces †Introduce parking charges at Queenswood †Possible community assest transfers Proposed budget savings 2014/15 £150,000 (Looks like you will have to pay to use the park, that is if they have't given it away for building) Waste & sustainability †disposal contract †moving to alternate weekly collections of waste and restricting to 1 wheelie bin. (compared to Spain where they are emptied every day) Proposed budget savings 2014/15 £188,000 Public toilets †no further closures planned (that is because they are all closed) Proposed budget savings 2014/15 £90,000 Minimum "back office" services to maintain revenues and effective financial management Proposed budget savings 2014/15 £1,792,000 (yet they give Hoople over half a million every month) Car parking †Provide adequate supply of parking to support economic activity whilst maximising financial return from HC's land holding Proposed budget savings 2014/15 £none (No incentive for shoppers or commuters or cuts in enforcement) Removing funding from Citizens' Advice Bureau Proposed budget savings 2014/15 £48,000 (Can't support people who need help when in difficult circumstances) Customer & Library Services, remove funding from all libraries except Hereford, Leominster and Ross. Proposed budget savings 2014/15 £348,000 (Can't have any culture or self education. The masses may revolt) Did the public support this when consulted?

Important meeting coming up. Contains the results of public consultation held at the end of last year. Not that the Council will be taking much notice of that. Health & Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee Monday 13 January 2014 10.00 am 6. BUDGET 2014/15 AND MEDIUM TERM FINANCIAL STRATEGY To provide the Health and Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee and the General Overview and Scrutiny Committee with information on the draft budget proposals and to give an opportunity for the committees to comment on the Budget report to be presented to Cabinet on 23 January 2014. Additional documents: Draft Cabinet Report - 23 January 2014 , item 6. Annex A - Budget Consultation Interim Report 5 , item 6. Annex B - Budget Consultation Interim Report 6 , item 6. Appendix 1_Draft Revenue Budget Summary 2014-15 , item 6. Appendix 2_Savings Proposals 2014-15 , item 6. There are a further 24 documents. View the full list of documents for item 6. Here is what they want to achieve over the next three years. Savings Proposals Summary 2014/15 to 2016/17 (£millions) 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 Total by area Adults £5,490m £3,435m £3,146m £12,071m Childrens £2,500m £1,632m £2,236m £6,368m Economic £7,407m £3,602m £4,269m £15,278m Communities & Corporate & CEODT Total £15,397m £8,669m £9,651m £33,717m Grand total over 3 years by year

from left to right: at present - Hibiscus the florists, Powells the butcher and Cancer Research uk charity shop. In the background the ground looks cleared for inner ring road and Garrick House.

Try these: Valuation Office Agency search Herefordshire Council: Business rates advice website

Online retailers move into bricks and mortar stores By Lindsay Baker Business Reporter from BBC Business News 6 November 2013 What happens in America usually follows over here. I can see a future in this style of retailing saving the high street and bringing comsumers into the centre to try before they buy. Also an educational and employment opportunity to promote local, national and international businesses and their products.

Check out post number 7 on this topic and past topic "Beyond Retail - Redefining the shape and purpose of town centres." You can link to the report here by The Distressed Town Centre Property Taskforce.

Good ideas Flamboyant. I have been looking at quotations to raise my spirits. Here are a few to support your comment. with acknowledgement to BrainyQuote. 1. Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere. Carl Sagan 2. To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk. Thomas A. Edison 3. Without leaps of imagination, or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning. Gloria Steinem Quotes 1 & 2 appear apt for High Town. Quote 3 Unfortuanately "the excitement of possibilities" is replaced by "the law of certainty" that all planning is based on short term financial gain for the few and long term pay back by the many.

Latest tot up of your empty shops pics Colin: Belmont Road 1 Bewell Street 2 Bridge Street 3 Church Street 1 Commercial Road 1 Commercial Street 6 East Street 1 Eign Gate 3 High Town 4 King Street 1 St Nicholas Street 1 St Owen Street 1 St Peters Street 2 Union Street 4 Widemarsh Street 5 Total = 36 empty shops

From previous post here: Beyond Retail Redefining the shape and purpose of town centres November 2013 Page 28 - Business Rates There is already considerable industry debate and lobbying from the retail and property industry around the need for business rates reform. Reform is urgently required to address regional inequalities that have arisen out of the current five year review process. Central Government has already taken action to provide relief from the impact of business rates. These actions have included increasing the amount of small business rate relief for a temporary period and allowing local councils to introduce and fund local business rate discounts. It is nonetheless clear that, in many towns, retail business rates now account for a disproportionately high percentage of total occupancy costs for retailers. This has been exacerbated by the fact that current business rate levels are based on 2008 rental levels — pre-recession and at the peak of the market. This has resulted in the current level of business rates being out of step with the economic cycle. The majority of retail locations outside of London have seen rental decline since 2008. For Great Britain as a whole, rents have fallen by 15% in nominal terms (26% in real terms). The delay of the business rates revaluation from 2015 to 2017 has simply extended an inequitable situation whereby, in effect, poor performing towns in the Midlands and North are subsidising the stronger performing locations in London and the South. High business rates are just one of the factors that have contributed to the high level of retailer administrations over the last four years. It is also undoubtedly a factor in deterring new entrants and start-up independents looking at gaining a High Street presence, although Small Business Rate Reflief may apply. Solutions With the evolving multi-channel retail sector dynamic, the business rates system needs to be reformed to return a sense of equity to contributing businesses and, in particular, better reflect the balance of taxation levied on physical and pure online retailers. In the long term, an independent review of the business rates system is required to determine how relevant it is for the collection of taxes to pay for local services given today’s, and critically tomorrow’s, retail business model. More regular revaluations are required to better reflect the changing economic and business environment. There should be consideration of other models, taking examples from abroad. In the medium term, property owner contributions to Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) should be made compulsory, initially in London, where the legislation allows, and then further afield, where there is agreement for owners to participate. In the short term, business rates discounts should be widely promoted to incentivise investment in town centres. This can be funded via the Regional Growth Fund, as is happening in Bradford, or through investing capital reserves where the strength of the public sector balance sheet allows. The annual uplift should also be fixed at no more than 2% — Government’s target for inflation — until 2017. This is something a number of organisations have been calling for over the past few years, including the BCSC and the Association of Convenience Stores (ACS), and has recently been taken up by the CBI and the BRC. "In the short term, business rates discounts should be widely promoted to incentivise investment in town centres". What is the situation in Hereford - any councillors give us some figures?

Just totted up your empty shops pics Colin: Commercial Street 6 High Town 3 St Peters Street 2 Widemarsh Street 4 Eign Gate 3 Union Street 4 Total = 22 empty shops

I'll guess 35 Colin. I imagine one of the biggest factors in running a business on the high street is the business rates. Check out what these people have to pay on the VOA site. This figure is based on 2008 rental values which at that time were at their peak. The government decided not to have a revaluation because they knew market rentals would be low and business rates would have to come down as well. You can find a post code to enter in the search from here: In the Hereford Times (p2, 26th December edition): "Receivers have been appointed to Hereford's Maylord shopping centre with existing tenants facing an investigation into their occupancy rights"

New road bike racing circuit to open in North West Proof there is a market for this type of facility.

Reported in Herefordshire Journal, August 6th 2008

Agent or Applicant name and address Bryan Smith Associates , 33 The Dell, Westbury-On-Trym Bristol BS9 3UE . (Agent) Hereford Residential Developments Ltd , Hereford Residential Developments Ltd Unit 220 Estate Office Holmer Trading Estate College Road Hereford HR1 1JS . (Applicant) Planning history below. Some very large downloads! Mixed Use development comprising residential (115 units), employment (office, industrial and warehousing), retail and supporting infrastructure including new access off College Road, roads, footpaths, open spaces, landscaping, parking Extant planning permission to extend time limit on application DCCE2007/1655/O (passed on appeal) - Mixed use development comprising residential (115 units), employment (office, industrial and warehousing), retail and supporting infrastructure

I cycle around here every day and had noticed that new plastic window frames have been fitted into all the flats over the past years. When all these flats are demolished during the phased development plan let's hope the frames can be salvaged and used for the good of other people.

From the Herefordshire & Gloucestershire Canal Trust website Route of the Canal into Hereford City Starting from the North, the historic line of the Canal runs parallel to the Sutton St Nicholas Road and crosses under the A4103 Roman Road (where the former Hereford & Worcester County Council built a new bridge for the Canal in 1995). A little further the Aylestone Park Project Site is reached. After a short infilled section, Aylestone Tunnel takes the Canal under the main Newport to Shrewsbury/Worcester railway line. Emerging from the tunnel, the restored canal will need to deviate along a former railway siding from its original line to avoid a large factory, and then to pass around the Hereford Retail Park (where a new footbridge and new road bridge were built to accommodate the future line of the Canal in 2000). The historic line is regained just before the Harper’s Site. Widemarsh Canal bridge is next and, shortly afterwards, the Canal will terminate in a New Hereford Basin. Canal Restoration Wins Planning Appeal for Trading Estate A recent Planning Application for the redevelopment of the Holmer Trading Estate, Hereford, which included plans to restore a further section of the Hereford and Gloucester Canal, including proposals for 115 new homes, together with a small convenience store, in addition to considerable local employment and retail floor space, was turned down by Herefordshire Council. (lack of vision again!!) However, the developers took the Application to an Appeal. As a result, the decision has been reversed. In his summing up of the case, the Planning Inspector said .... “… the likely benefits associated with the re-opening of the Canal would be substantial. It seems to me that this is an important section of the Canal in terms of achieving the Unitary Development Plans long-term restoration aims.†... “Restoration of the length of Canal indicated in the Obligation would add substantially to the significance of the Canal as a feature within the City. In my judgement, the benefit of the scheme to the restoration of the Canal is sufficient to tip the balance in favour of allowing the Appeal....†It seems very clear that the proposed restoration of the Hereford and Gloucester Canal was crucial to the Inspector, and persuaded him, on balance, to grant the Appeal. More information here: Aylestone Park An artist’s impression of how the new Canal Basin at Edgar Street might look. Interesting to discover Hereford's past. Maybe Colin can create a section to highlight the glory of old hereford before the ESG spreads out like a cancer and smothers everything. A good start would be here at Hereford Old Pics. The aim of this site is to give a different look at Old Hereford, with new and old pictures of its people, it's buildings, it's businesses and events from over the years. Something a little different for people to take a look at and talk about.

Ask them if they filled in this form in 2009. WM audit final 1 (2).pdf Developing and using Customer Insight as a Strategic Asset Baseline Audit Tool Part 1 - Council Data Sets Questionnaire Section 2: Turning data into intelligence For data to become useful it needs to acquire a meaning i.e. some form of context-geographical area, gender/age grouping, such that it becomes information e.g. aggregating the numbers of residents in a ward who are female, aged 80+ and who are in receipt of a Bus Pass, could facilitate a decision on whether to increase or decrease the frequency of buses travelling a particular route, thus the data has generated knowledge for decision-makers. This section seeks to develop that understanding. and Section 4: Sharing and using this data set and Q26 Who is this data collected for?

This is nearly two years ago. Did they ever do this - can't see anything on their website?

Locality Manager - Balfour Beatty Will this make any difference to getting our drains unblocked and pot holes filled in? These Locality Managers look as if they are upsurping our elected councillors. See post above.

The Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) receive funding from a number of sources including Home office (Policing Grant and Various other grants), Office for Communities and Local Government (Various Grants) and Precept (Council Tax). The budget requirement of the Police and Crime Commissioner for West Mercia (The Commissioner) of £202.9 million is funded partly through government grants and business rates, and partly by direct precept on West Mercia council tax payers. In 2013/2014, central government funding accounts for 64% of total resources. The Government Grant for Community Safety will be topped up to provide a Community Safety Fund of £2m in 2013/14, from resources held for community safety within the former Police Authority budget, from savings within the Commissioner’s own budget, and from reserves. WEST MERCIA BUDGET 2013/14 MEDIUM TERM FINANCIAL PLAN 2013/14 TO 2017/18 Report of the Treasurer, Director of Finance, Chief Executive and Chief Constable h) That the Chief Executive to the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for West Mercia be authorised to issue Precepts Notices on the West Mercia billing authorities as follows: £ Bromsgrove District Council 6,037,967.62 Herefordshire Council 11,481,348.10 Malvern Hills District Council 4,973,448.75 Redditch Borough Council 4,251,323.44 Shropshire Council 17,743,259.04 Telford and Wrekin Council 7,723,688.62 Worcester City Council 5,179,663.04 Wychavon District Council 7,781,997.81 Wye Forest District Council 5,382,867.68 TOTAL £70,555,564.10 Financial Resources p48 to p50 and p57 to p58 and Grants available from Bill's Private Fund and West Mercia Commissioner's Grant Scheme

I picked this up a few weeks ago. See this post.