twowheelsgood

The speech is there on youtube. Ironic that Bridgen should be complaining on the platform formerly known as twitter, an autocratically censored site, where everyone is answerable to the owner.

Part 3 of the ongoing 'you REALLY just can't make it up' saga of this debacle. The 9 week remedial works outlined above have now been going on for 28 weeks and appear to have been abandoned, with areas fenced off and left unfinished. Enquiries to both the ward councillor and the cabinet member have not been answered. Local residents have today received yet another letter from BBLP advising the whole length of the road will now be CLOSED for YET MORE overnight working from Monday 9th October for 5 nights. They appreciate our patience! Who knows, the works may even be completed before Christmas at this pace. I repeat, the original works were programmed at 16 weeks and it's now been over a year since they were started and still no end in sight. It's not even as though it's a good (or even safe) scheme! Why does no one in authority give a monkeys?

We're seeing the consequences of a lack of investment in schools (and other public buildings) in the news at the moment. Pulling money away from them for questionable update of facilities which saw £1.92m spent on the building just 6 years ago seems, at best, foolish. It also warrants close questioning of those in Plough Lane commissioning such works (and indeed how they awarded the contracts).

Really sorry and shocked to read about and see the extent of your injuries, purely as a result of being a good citizen and trying to do the right thing. That the police weren't interested is shocking, especially with all the recent publicity about the knife sculpture. Sadly, the country continues its seemingly unstoppable slow decline, with lawlessness at every level left unchecked. The tories are too busy filling the pockets of their mates to care, or even pretend to care, and labour, well, who knows. They can't be any worse, can they? The trouble is, with so much damage done over the last decade, it's going to take more than four years to start to turn things round.

AECOM is the world’s trusted infrastructure consulting firm, partnering with clients to solve the world’s most complex challenges and build legacies for generations to come. AECOM is an American multinational infrastructure consulting firm. Should be good for lil' old Hereford then. It does beg the question as to what so many in Plough Lane actually do, when so much is passed to expensive outside facilitators. It should be one or the other surely? Does anyone have a grip on costs in Plough Lane? I suspect no one wants to rock the boat, it's all too cosy, and the 'interim' directors come and go so fast that they can never see anything through.

Dear, oh dear. No surprise at the contractor either. It appears that £303k is being pulled from capital investments in schools to 'corporate asset review projects' These are; a) Blueschool House Proposal to reconfigure internal layout and update facilities b) Three Elms Proposal to reconfigure two units at Three Elms with regards to internal layout c) No 8 and Town Hall Proposal to reconfigure internal layout and update facilities Will councillors be asking where the £1m overspend disappeared to before voting on this?

Yes, I'd have to agree about the photo, it's just an ego trip for her.

I think we all know the answer to that one. Despite the tens of £millions poured into this service, why are they only able to say 'Practice is starting to improve'. Good grief.

Nearly 3 weeks the cycle path has been closed off and high double screened fencing erected to hide the remedial works ... or perhaps not. I popped my camera above the screens to record, well, not a lot of work done really, but then, this is BBLP direct labour. What a debacle this whole thing has been.

Part 2 of the ongoing 'you just can't make it up' saga of this debacle - following on from the March remedial works (which didn't seem to achieve much, save for making things worse, including leaving open trenches in the cyclepath), local St James residents have had another letter from BBLP, advising that they will 'be delivering the remaining remedial works required for the scheme'. Works will commence on Tuesday 6 June and will take approximately NINE WEEKS to complete (the original contract was 16 weeks) - that's some sort of remedial list. They claim it will be at 'no additional cost to Herefordshire Council or the taxpayer' but I cannot believe that. This was a complete failure on Harrington's watch - people with huge experience of cycling infra (certainly not BBLP) advised him it would fail but he would not listen and he paid the price. However, we are left with something that wasn't asked for, was changed from the agreed scheme with stakeholders and does not work, even when or if it's built properly. There have been numerous very close misses and several collisions at the Cantilupe Street junction, albeit that's down to poor driving, but it should have been designed out and should never have got through the safety audit. It's cost an obscene amount of our money and stands as a folly to those who put political aspirations before common sense.

This was budgeted at £55k in the linked report, so more than twice over budget before it's even started ... how do Property Services get it so wrong? Was this an open tender, or is there only one local builder?

Small things that make a huge difference to the usability of public transport - this can only be a good thing. More grass roots, common sense stuff is what the County needs.

Indeed, he was an extremely good Ward Councillor who did a huge amount of work. He was elected to the City Council and will no doubt be supporting his District Council successor as best he can.

No, I think you're right. I've also realised that Phillip Price is making a comeback (elected for Golden valley North) - talk about getting the old band back together - it's straight back to a decade ago!

So who wants power enough to jump into bed with the conservatives to give them a majority? History says the Lib Dems - 6 out of the 12 elected would be enough. Will they stick together as one party or not or will some of the so-called 'independents' succumb?

Crikey, I've just spotted the name Harry Bramer in the list of those elected - former (and some might say controversial) 'Portfolio Holder for Contracts and Assets' from around 2015, responsible for, amongst other things, the great farm sell-off. No doubt he will be looking to make his mark in the new administration.

I would expect the security to be paid for by the mayfair, and I can see the logic for it, but private security on public streets does present some difficult (legal) questions about responsibility and liability.

For the first time ever, I am considering not voting. I had high hopes of this administration, I naively perhaps thought they might change Hereford for the better, but it's been quite the opposite in an accelerated manner. It's not only the failing infrastructure and wasted money, but people's lives affected by woeful failures of social services.

Another from the 'you just can't make it up' department of Herefordshire Council - local St James residents have had a letter from BBLP, advising that "we are currently carrying out remedial works following a quality review of the initial works undertaken as part of the cycle contraflow scheme". St Owens Street will once agin be closed for night works from 27 March. Perhaps if the work was done in daylight, it might just be to a better standard? It couldn't be any worse - with over 40 years experience in construction, this £1.2m scheme is some of the worst work I've ever seen. Let's not forget this was a scheme costed at £254k, that somehow ended costing nearly 500% more, yet less than 3 months after completion it's being dug up again. The Council's response to complaints is to the effect they can't do anyhting about it, BBLP are autonomous. No one elected them. The current administration came to power on the promise of a fundamental review of BBLP, but, like the traffic lights promise, nothing has happened. As the great John Lydon once said “Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?”

Agreed, and I don't imagine for a moment that it will be done to the same standard and his successor will be left to take the flack after May. There's a certain irony in the fact that they've created exactly the same 'trip hazard' by raising the tarmac level in St Owen's Street, despite all of the agreed drawings showing the stepped kerb was to be maintained. Pedestrians now use the cycle path as an extension of the narrow pavement.

Sniping at the previous administration by Cllr Harrington is all well and good, but at least the work was done to a very high standard with very high quality materials. Under his watch, we have the opposite with the St Owen's St cyclepath, with some of the shoddiest and sub-standard construction I've seen with 40+ years experience in construction. Who's he going to blame that on?

£4.47 million for the guaranteed 12 month min period. Wow.

We've been here before. In 2007, the Edgar Street Grid (ESG) masterplan was formally adopted. This was to provide a "unique opportunity to create an exciting and innovative regeneration scheme adjoining the city centre hectare site is expected to take in the region of 20 years to reach completion and once achieved will help to strengthen Hereford’s role as a sub which will add real value to the experiences offered within Hereford City and its wider catchment. The redevelopment of this under utilised 43 hectare site is expected to take 20 years to reach completion and once achieved will help to strengthen Hereford's role as a sub regional foci and regenerate the local economy leading to increased prosperity for the city and county." Well, that plan completely failed, serving only the asset strippers and money men who well and truly took the Council for a ride. Given the dismal failure of this administration to deliver on just about anything, why will this one be any different. What most residents want is just the basics fixed. It's not glamorous, there are no photo opportunities or lucrative contracts for out of county construction firms, but it's actually what we pay our council tax for.

Change in some councillors coming very soon I think. Repairs to roads to make scooters safe to use will take some while longer.