twowheelsgood

Start here - https://www.herefordshire.gov.uk/info/200231/parish_councils/33/parish_councils/7 Your polling card should say which ward you are in. Note that wards are often different boundaries to parishes.

HT not allowing comments though ...

The Council did put up some signs a few years ago asking people not to feed bread to the ducks - they didn't last long - I think they're at the bottom of the pond ...

Yep, that's still two Independents to split the vote and let the Cons win. Surprised IOC haven't pitched in a candidate as well just to make sure of it.

Setting the standard - a fine welcome to the City for those arriving by bus. Rusty, dirty, leaning (and unnecessary) railings and a bumper crop of weeds. Classy.

Labour still not taking the hint and why two Independents?

That still leaves 1980 miles of roads (and drains) in a diabolical state. The 'Midlands Engine' - who comes up with this bilge - can't wait to see a whole 1 mile of 'rejuvenated' highway! rejuvenation |rɪdÊ’uËvəˈneɪʃ(É™)n| noun [mass noun] the action or process of making someone or something look or feel better, younger, or more vital ...

Link works fine - interesting. Seems to be a hot spot near The Brewers Arms in Eign Road - 5 car crimes in the last 6 months. Of course, the site only lists those reported - my car has been damaged on numerous occasions by passing or parking vans and cars, the drivers of which make off without leaving details.

IOC were live blogging it on their Facebook page; Lots of cabinet members absent. Also 2 group leaders (Green + Liberal) and one of the scrutiny chairs ... but a busy agenda Next item - it gets worse ... debacle of the Blue School House massive overspend of well over £1m. Director Geoff Hughes says an investigation by council's internal auditors is still underway and will report to Audit & Governance Committee in September. Shockingly it appears that a proper contract for the work hasn't even been signed and the contract would not now pass the requirements of the council's updated constitution as regards the number of contractors (1) on the framework contract used. Serious concern expressed by Cllr Powers - incredulous at the litany of errors which appear to have come to light. We must await for the investigation output to A&G before digging further into this one ... we're nowhere near the bottom.

Thank you, telling it like it is and confirming a lot of what has been said on numerous threads, despite Cllr Chappell's rather pompous claims to the contrary.

The Law Society are there to protect their own - why should they do anything? What are councillors doing about officers who time and again shortlist corrupt and incompetent people for highly paid jobs when googling them will show their history in a few seconds? Come to that, why don't councillors do a bit of searching before employing these people?

Which is what I said further up the thread - the Council are attempting to rewrite recent history. They gave us the figures, councillors gave planning permission based on the figures, now the figures are grossly inflated. Would they have granted pp had the truth been known? Unlikely.

Jarvis Amey Edgar Street Grid Limited Edgar Street Grid (Hereford) Limited ESG Herefordshire Ltd Hereford Futures Limited BBLP Hoople Each and every one an unmitigated disaster for the people of Herefordshire - sold to Councillors by journeymen more interested in another notch on their cv than the good of the County (and none of them held to account), with the promised millions of savings turning to just the opposite, probably costing us tens of millions. Yet, here we are again, on the cusp of the same costly mistake once more. Utter madness. The Council have conclusively demonstrated that they are wholly incapable of managing even a simple £1m refurbishment at Blueschool House - what chance have we got with yet another 10 year 'partnership'? The big boys will be rubbing their hands together in glee - bonus time!

The variances between the original cost plan and current indicative outturn include: - Fees and furnishings had not been included in the original decision; - Extra roofing costs over the original allowance; - Fireproofing of all existing steelwork once exposed; - Locating plant in ground area compound as opposed to roof; - Landscaping and drainage works and DDA requirements; - Small amount of asbestos discovered. I've spent 40 years as a construction professional and can state that all of the above should have been recognised and allowed for in the original tendering process. Inconceivable that they haven't. I question how they total the best part of £1m and what fees are being paid to whom and how they have allowed such a shambolic management of our money. The report avoids confirming the procurement process and how the (informal) contract is being run and by whom. The whole thing stinks and will be brushed under the carpet with a shrug and a smirk. The contractors will also walk away with a very big grin.

I've skimmed through this - it appears as if history is being re-written in terms of original costs and who was paying for what. The lions share (£700k) of the original £950k was to be paid by the DWP, the Council paying £250k. This is now being presented as the DWP paying £400k and the Council paying the balance (£1.52m). So, we're hobbled with a six fold increase! The scheme was universally slated at the planning committee as mediocre at best, yet councillors voted in favour on the basis that it was too good a deal to let go. Not looking so good now is it? I also note that the building contract has not been signed! Another potentially catastrophic oversight. An incredible shambles yet no one in opposition seems remotely interested. At the same time, the Council has the audacity to ask us how they might save £10m over the next two years ... As an aside, the original drawings were clearly wrong, which I flagged up in my planning objection, ignored of course. Take a look at the boundary with City Electrics - known in the trade as a lash up, as there isn't space to take the cladding right around as proposed, which I did point out.

Ask our invisible (except when royalty are present) returning officer?

Extraordinary, as are those salary figures. Perhaps the Chancellor has a point about public service salaries (the upper echelons at least).

The proposal has been revised and re-submitted. They have learnt their lesson and not submitted any visuals that the pesky public can moan about, just straight plans and elevations. P172380/F - Planning Permission

Ward councillors - where are they? There was a time when they would be shouting long and hard to keep their wards clean tidy and free from potholes. No more it seems - they have clearly given up, which begs the question - what is the point of them? The Cabinet does what it wants regardless, there is no democracy at that level, so councillors just turn up, shut up and take the money. When will someone realise that BBLP are merely contractors who have no allegiance to the County, no interest in it save for what they can make out of it. As such, they need to be watched and held to account at every turn - formally the domain of the feared clerk of works. That does not happen - and why not - and we have what we have. Desperately disappointing.

We are considering that scheme, given the cost of green bags, the inconvenience of buying them and the ridiculous situation of it going to landfill anyway, or now, it seems, being driven to Hartlebury to be incinerated. Clearly, Biffa are doing it to make a profit and at less cost than the green bag scheme - yet again our Council are shown to be both lacking, as Denise says. Collect and compost locally - make a profit and reduce vehicle journeys to Hartlebury - too much effort for Plough Lane droids it seems.

Some of those items can be recycled at the local 'tip', such as aluminium foil and batteries, but you have to take them, whereas some Counties offer a more comprehensive recycling collection.

Another picture of the neglected Greenway. The tiles at the join are loose - a couple of have been replaced/refixed after much complaining as they were badly done at the outset. They're mostly all loose now.

If she wishes to bring attention to all those things, she's not doing a very good job - I crawled past the roundabout in todays log jam traffic and saw nothing to highlight her causes. My first thought was sanitation, or rather lack thereof ...

Hereford's £3m flagship Greenway bridge, opened by Cllr Chappell in Dec 2013, has not had a single penny spent on it since. It's covered in graffiti, dog mess, mould and weeds. Once again, why aren't the ward councillor/s demanding some action? Chose how you move, but be careful where you walk/cycle and try not to read the very large and very offensive graffiti. I also had to dodge an idiot on a motorbike this evening.

BBLP's overall written strategy is a 'reactive' one ie do nothing until something happens. That something may be a complaint at one end of the scale to a serious incident at the other. Either way, until that wall falls over or those blocked gullies flood someone's property or cause a crash, nothing will be done. Of course, our Council tax will continue to be aggressively collected regardless. Whilst most people can see the folly of this approach and would prefer 'a stitch in time', our Councillors have decided that is the way the BBLP contract will be run. Year after year we see the City decline further in a seemingly endless downward spiral. Yes, some socially minded people get together from time to time and tidy up a small area, but they can never address the overall picture, nor should they have to - that is what we pay Council tax for and that is why we elect councillors to act in our best interest. It's a well documented scenario that the more run down an area becomes, the more vandalism and crime it attracts. The gap between the £20 MILLION pounds we pay BBLP every YEAR and what is being done on the ground seems to be getting wider on a logarithmic scale, yet councillors roll over, keep their heads down and do nothing. You have to wonder why. For all its faults, the OLM development is kept spotlessly clean by a small team - it doesn't take much because it's done all day every day - a stitch in time.