twowheelsgood

Good to hear from you b47. Watched celebrity cycling the other night - I'd vaguely heard of Austin Healey (what were his parents thinking with that name) - never heard of the others. I think being able to cry, a lot, and fall off, a lot, meant they qualified. I doubt any of them could manage Widow Twanky.

Hmmmm, but will Councillors resist the smell of the filthy lucre on the table? Recent actions say perhaps not.

How long? The High Town bomb site is a good guide. Interesting to read in the Lions paper delivered yesterday, that the Council's excuse for not moving this along is not perhaps as they have stated.

Yes it was on here - it was a draft with numerous errors. i couldn't be bothered with it past page 6 - its just job justification for council middle mangers. Always looking forward with futile grand designs, never doing routine maintenance on significant assets - roads, for instance.

The last master plan the Council spent several million pounds putting together - ESG - was a 20 year plan that was abandoned after 6 years or so - basically once the consultants and the money men had taken their fill from the paperwork and then the OLM, so this is more of the same. ESG Civic Quarter - This lies north of Blueschool Street, directly opposite Maylord shopping centre, itself an integral part of the regeneration plans. It is envisaged a new county library will be the centrepiece, creating a major new focal point in the city, and a place where people can get information and learn new skills in a computer led age. The whole area will become a lively, active street scene, incorporating smaller shops, offices and cafes with civic buildings mostly occupying the upper floors along with new apartments. Modern, purpose-built offices will help local businesses grow and prosper. What we've actually got is no library, no lively active street scene, no nothing really, save for Blueschool House soon to be clad in red formica. Is it any wonder a lot of us are more than a little jaded by the out of touch, closed door cabinet system?

Not sure what the Local Data Company stand to make from this report, save to heap worry on those concerned with the sites they identify (remember, this is speculation by a third party), but they're on the money with this comment; Stores which are vulnerable because the town centre is already in serious decline include Blackpool, Bolton, Boston, Hereford, Mansfield, Stoke and Sunderland.

It wasn't that long ago that Mayor as was Charles Nicholls was pictured in the HT outside this vacant shop, touting its future as a Tourist Info Centre ...

I am reliably informed that Mr Socket is now finally the owner of the Butter Market.

Total commitment is a given, particularly given the high salaries involved - do we need a self-serving report to state the obvious? Oh, I forgot, this is the public sector ...

Cllr Johnsons recent statement on the recruitment farce included "The council gets through £1m a day in taxpayers money- we want someone who knows his left from his right to be in charge of that." Not one of those months above gets anywhere near £30m or £31m - Johnson IS actually in charge of that spending, yet he clearly doesn't which way is up let alone his left from his right.

It highlights previous vandalism of removing all of the chimneys and altering the roof, plus the poor quality additions to the rear - all of which mitigated against listing. Once a perfectly good building falls into the hands of the Council, you can guarantee they will well and truly mess it up with their shoddy and lazy attitude to property management - and that includes the County's biggest asset - our highways.

STOR is Short Term Operating Reserve - it would seem the National Grid are inviting tenders to supply electricity via these sites, so it would appear that these applications are entirely speculative by private companies - presumably the land owners expect some reward should they come to fruition, as no doubt does Mr Poole. I hope the architects have been paid for all this work! The lack of technical supporting data is a give-away - I don't understand why this application has been accepted in this form. http://www2.nationalgrid.com/uk/services/balancing-services/reserve-services/short-term-operating-reserve/

Well, that is bizarre. A full application, yet all the drawings are marked 'illustrative only' and all are marked by the Council as 'superseded' with nothing in their place. So what are they determining?

it's not an empty plot! It's presently a double garage serving the house to the left. I've no issue with contemporary design, but this is just too dominant and overpowers the house and garden to the right. The bricks should be red rather than drab grey and the top floor needs to be much lighter in appearance.

That's a very distorted picture, shot with a wide angle lens - in reality the gap is very narrow - currently a double garage - and the three storey height totally dominates the neighbours to the right. Does it conserve and enhance the Conservation Area - the criteria for approval? I think not. But let's not forget that the Council think that cladding Blueschool House in red formica will conserve and enhance the Conservation Area, so we can't rely on the Planning Committee to do the right thing (although there was a huge financial incentive involved in that application and our Council have form on never letting due process get in the way of cash money).

The MJ is a "market leading information, intelligence and news resource for anyone who needs to know about the UK’s local authorities. Our subscribers are chief executives, senior managers, elected officials and private sector executives working for, or with, local authorities throughout the UK." So it's preaching to the converted really, or at least flagging up where the 'opportunities' are.

Here you go - this reminds me of the old South Herefordshire District Council days, when it used to regularly appear in Private Eye and was in their top 10 most corrupt Councils in the Country - I believe the going rate for a planning permission at that time was £5k cash in an envelope, tied with binder twine and handed over to the councillor cartel … Oh, and an extremely rare picture of our CE!

Nope - error 404 - can you drop it in a pm?

Ridiculous - it's not as though he's suddenly upped and gone (like someone else ...) - they've had ages to advertise for a full time replacement. Looking at the job requirements/description, it's no wonder the Council are in the mess they're in. "Ability to develop long-term relationships and networks external to the Organisation" says it all really.

Not available - to me at least!

They would have us believe that the hub is still on the agenda, but we don't want to rush into things do we? Travel by any means other than car is to very, very low on the agenda for the present cabinet.

I see that the site is now up for sale for £1.1million ... can't see that flying off the shelf anytime soon. One shop when available to rent at £70k pa. All the Council's weasel words about 'getting on with it' and 'compulsory purchase' seemingly worthless. Same old ...

Seems like form of one sort or another is the only qualification needed for admittance to the upper ranks of Herefordshire Council!

It's private property - they can make as much mess as they want to, but it's not a prosecutable offence. Noise might be a different issue or failure to leave if requested by the owners.

I suspect it's not much more than a compilation of local media reports. Until someone from within the Council spills the beans in one way of another, this has been well and truly locked down by the closed doors cabal, which of course merely serves to highlight it and fuel speculation. I note a temporary appointment to replace Mr Robinson has already been made on a mere £800 a day agency fee.