twowheelsgood

All available funds this year appear to have been invested in several tins of white road lining paint - there's been an outbreak of white line renewal throughout the City - seemingly regardless of the potholes and the general crumbling surfaces it is being applied to. Complete madness. Once again - what are our ward councillors doing about it?

Unfortunately, in England, there is no legal requirement to display ratings in premises at the moment. Those that do well often do display them, those that don't, well, that's a pointer!

How many staff are on a junket in Birmingham to collect it then?

Given Cllr Matthews comment "I had to obtain this information from Companies House, because members generally have never been briefed with respect to the workings of Hoople Ltd, which is after all financed by us, the taxpayers of this county" it would seem that the Council(ors) have no control (or knowledge) at all.

I stand corrected on the terms (and it was me providing the information to the ex-councillor, not the other way round), but the point I was making is still valid ie other than having heard of it, the ex-councillor had no idea about how Hoople worked or its limited accountability. Your ref to dimwit councillors is on the nail.

At the same meeting, an application on the other side of the County was approved for a dwelling for a disabled person, contrary to planning policies. Just a couple of fields away from the Sutton St Nicholas application, permission was granted for a new house a little while ago - contrary to the same planning policies. The applicant was a former Tory councillor's brother. Let's not forget Cllr Greenow was granted planning permission for a new house in the open countryside a little while ago - with no extenuating circumstances and contrary to planning policies. It's the C word again - consistency, or lack thereof, one of this Council's many failings.

I spoke to a former Herefordshire Councillor today who had no idea that Hoople was an arms length company … despite it coming into existence whilst serving as a councillor.

Building Regs are widely mis-understood. Individual materials do not pass Building Regs (although there are requirements for CE marking etc, replacing the old British Standards). A combination of materials will make up an element ie a floor, wall or roof. Combinations are endless. It is for the applicant to demonstrate that their required combination satisfies the numerous requirements which may include including fire resistance (numerous variations e.g. spread of flame, combustibility), water resistance, thermal resistance, sound resistance, air resistance, structural stability and others. There are no prescribed construction methods - there are suggestions, but they are just that. This has been the case for many years - it is not a new development. The amount of rubbish spouted over the last few days by the media and politicians, all of whom suddenly think they are experts on 'Part B', beggars belief. They grab a word like 'sprinklers' and repeat it ad-nauseum and it builds its own momentum. That said. sprinklers within individual flats would be extremely effective and would have stopped the fire at source - I've seen them demonstrated and it is no surprise that the Fire Brigade have been asking for domestic sprinklers for years - they really do work (and it's only a very fine spray, not the deluge you get in commercial buildings). You can fit out a new house for £2k. Part of the refurbishment was supposed to include new smoke vents at the top of the stairwell - these open automatically when there is a fire to keep the stairwell clear of smoke. No one seems to have picked this up as they clearly didn't work. Neither did the dry risers, which meant the fire brigade couldn't get water to the higher levels. It is a litany of failures by another Council 'arms length' company, with a truly tragic outcome.

The Council's press release for the opening of this plant is now online, heavily edited from the previous PR in March, quoted above, to skew the glory to Herefordshire; https://www.herefordshire.gov.uk/news/article/315/herefordshire_waste_will_help_to_power_the_country Note our previously invisible Chief Executive makes a rare appearance, presumably because royalty were cutting the ribbon. The press release is written to give the impression that Cllr Bramer single handedly built and delivered the project on time and on budget himself and also nowhere does it state where this facility is (in Hartlebury, Worcestshire, not Herefordshire). The link to the Council's EnviRecover page is equally skewed to give the impression that this is a Herefordshire facility, when in fact all of our waste now has to be driven to Hartlebury.

Good letter in this weeks HT by Cllr Matthews, restating the massive losses that Hoople are making, which the Council seem unable to address. I've quoted it here. The 2011 launch of Hoople where savings of £33m over 10 years were stated is now looking rather optimistic at best. Watchful eye AT the full council meeting of Herefordshire Council on Friday, May 19, the councils constitution was debated and approved. It was noted that the document clearly stated that the Chief Finance Officer has determined that staff from Hoople Ltd, which is a public business owned by Herefordshire Council and the Wye Valley Trust NHS, would be responsible for writing off all the council’s uncollectable debts up to a certain level. It should be noted at this juncture that this company provides numerous other services for both partners. It was at this point that I informed members that Hoople Ltd’s latest accounts for two years to March 31, 2016 stated that the company has accumulated losses of £1.396m and the amount of its pension deficit has gone from £101,000 to £2.7M and its turnover year-on-year has decreased by 8%. During the financial year 2015/2016, five of the six non-executive directors resigned within just one month, and none of them signed their emolument certificates. I asked Cllr Tony Johnson, leader of the council, if he would arrange for a council select committee to urgently review the activities of this company, to ascertain who is responsible for monitoring this publicly owned business, and this he readily agreed to do. I had to obtain this information from Companies House, because members generally have never been briefed with respect to the workings of Hoople Ltd, which is after all financed by us, the taxpayers of this county. The public may be assured that the Herefordshire Independents will continue to closely monitor ALL council expenditure, to ensure that value for money is obtained at all times. CLLR BOB MATTHEWS Credenhill Ward. Leader Herefordshire Independents CLLR P CROCKETT Queenswood Ward.

I'm listening to Radio 4 now and it is staggering that Grenfell residents and neighbours are saying that there is still no disaster management in place - no one knows what is happening and no one is co-ordinating anything, no one is telling residents what is happening, hence the angry scenes that nearly erupted into riots last night. Gavin Barwell is on, less than impressive, saying it will happen today - we'll see - but is dodging why it didn't happen immediately. I understood all Council's had disaster management scenario's in place, but not in one of the richest borough's in the Country it seems. Absolutely disgraceful, bad enough that this happened in the first place, but to compound it by a lacksadaisical response is unforgivable. Some on the spot sackings of over paid, smug and insular Council 'director's' wouldn't be out of order on my watch.

Did anyone attend? I was supporting a Bike Week event doing a 10 mile time trial and dodging the holes, ruts and gravel that form what was once a road through Clehonger.

Responsibilities The previous incumbent was responsible for: high speed rail (HS2) devolution including Northern Powerhouse motoring agencies local transport road and vehicle safety and standards buses and taxis traffic management sustainable accessible travel (including walking and cycling) smart ticketing Osbourne's pet project the 'Northern Powerhouse' seems to be flailing around with endless chiefs and no real results, save no doubt for lots of expensive meetings.

Standard issue we know best attitude - decide, consult, ignore, do.

Introducing lots of traffic lights on Roman Road - there's a surprise, we need more of those like a hole in the road. So, 450 houses and zero improvement to the existing road infrastructure to cope with the extra load.

I've asked Planning Enforcement about this, because I think they have been a bit naughty ... the conversion has permission, but there are conditions ... let's see what they say.

It's not as approved - I have already complained to Planning about it. Unfortunately that small area of Eign Street is rapidly becoming a shanty town, despite being in the Central Conservation Area. The shop to the RH side is also due to be converted under the same permission. Two 'bedsits' barley big enough for a bed each.

Traffic equally awful again this afternoon - I assume it was the same temporary roadworks, but who knows. I achieved the staggering average speed of 3mph for my journey across town (and that was heading away from the centre) - again I had another delivery, as I normally cycle anywhere in the City where my average speed is probably 12mph.

Prescient that you should mention the democratic process - here we have the Councils timetable for the bypass where it would seems that planning permission is a given ...

Belmont Road isn't the A49 and, let's be realistic, a bypass is, according to the Council, 5 years away to a 'phased opening', which in reality means 10 years away, if not more. A lot can happen in that time, not the least a couple of elections, Jim Kenyon running the Council, the hugely over-budget western bypass cancelled and the eastern one started all over again ... The Council are doing absolutely nothing about current traffic - which we all know is hidebound by the useless, outdated traffic lights that blight every road, with dozens more to come on the link road.

Traffic once again a nightmare today around noon - it took me 55 minutes to get from Ledbury Road to Grandstand Road (I had a large heavy delivery to make)! The whole city log jammed. I heard on H & W that temporary traffic lights on Belmont Road were causing problems - is that all it takes to grind the City to a halt?! The cost to business must be mind boggling. Yet those in power do nothing and those who pay their wages can do nothing. Honestly, it makes me want to move to the middle of Wales ...

Good call, thanks - I will try it out!

Labour don't do too well either, as the odious Ms Abbott has shown time and again.

I still cannot agree to arming all of our Police for numerous reasons. We need a swift response and internment is looking increasingly attractive - round up the 3000 known suspects and lock them up - build a camp on Dartmoor, nothing fancy just barbed wire and containers. We simply can't go on with the softly, softly approach - we see it time and again being abused. Look at the raids on the Jalsagor - illegals are simply told to make their own way to detention centres - as if that's going to happen! We also need to bring back those 20,000 police that we have lost and just get tough on who we let into the UK, even if they have a UK passport and just happen to be returning from Libya ...

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