twowheelsgood

Exhibition, consultation, endless meetings, reports, blah blah blah - sick of the endless cycle of empty promises. Give us something first - fix the roads we have. Do what you've been paid to do. Have some civic pride and personal responsibility - just do the basics, but do them well. 

East side of Aylestone Hill is now very dangerous for cycling, as is Hampton Park Road, plus the ones mentioned above.

'Choose how You Move' Herefordshire Council? Have you wandered down from Plough Lane to look at Whitecross Road lately? Forget lecturing us with your silly campaigns and expensive advertising - just fix the basics.

All of these roads are breaking up now very fast - the wearing course, which is the 'top coat' which protects the surface, long gone (washed in to gullies, blocking them solid) and, unless they're rebuilt through the summer and autumn, some are going to become unpassable for two wheelers at least once the bad weather arrives. As it is, they are too dangerous to ride when wet for fear of what every puddle hides (and there are plenty - see blocked gullies). What a pitiful state we've got into.

Took the grandson to see the robot - that was my first and probably last visit - and I didn't spend a penny (physically or metaphorically).

First page is very poorly written. Last page is repeated twice. Highways Maintenance Programme doesn't really make any sense.

'Road safety is a key priority and the money is focused on unclassified and C roads.' 

I just don't follow the logic of this. All the distributor roads in and out of the city are shot to pieces - Venns Lane is just appalling. Why are these being left and unclassified roads being surfaced - road safety means a decent surface, which surely is more important on abroad taking 10k vehicles a day than one taking 10?

The guy from Worcester won it hands down - interesting they employ a Manager for Economic Development, who clearly knows what he is talking about, whereas we don't, and it shows. Cllr Johnson claims the city is not full of charity shops or potpourri shops - don't know the relevance of the latter, but clearly he hasn't been into town to see we're awash with charity shops.

The clue is in the title - the best High Street - obviously Johnson kept on about the OLM, which is nowhere near any High Street ...

But is Agombar still a majority shareholder?

Call me insane, but surely the HC can cut this grass and by selling the cuttings to compost manufacturers in bulk, recuperate money - or even make a small profit?

I've already suggested that the larger areas could be mown for hay - farmer gets the hay, we get the grass cut, council get the job done for nothing - everyone's a winner ... I took a photo of the land south of Newton Farm - there's 100's of acres of good organic hay there for the taking.

Click on 'next' top RH corner above the video for part two, when he comes out after the meeting with the Council, who 'gave him a rough ride'.

My maths is wrong - 1% for art = £900k. Actual spend = £0.

Ragwert is correct - we're just a tinpot town, albeit with a cathedral, whilst B'ham is a multi-cultural city. But no getting away from the fact that Worcester has achieved what Hereford has failed to - yes, we did have a 'civic quarter' allocated in the original ESG grand design, including a library, but of course all that was cut once the deal was struck.

Birmingham City Council are as morally and fiscally corrupt as the best of them, makes our lot look like a bunch of choirboys (and girl). A council who thought it fair to pay women less than men until only a couple of years ago when they were stopped by the courts. A council that runs an illegal traffic camera network that rakes in millions in fines from unsuspecting motorists (including me - £270 in 11 minutes) - the councillor in charge has refused to refund fines despite being told to by an adjudicator. Electoral fraud in 2005 requiring a rerun of elections. A council that allows schools to be taken over muslim extremists. And so on.

As for the library, there's no escaping that it has been done in a timely manner, something that could never happen here. But look at the brutally ugly one it replaces - who allowed that? For what its worth, I think the library looks quite ridiculous, but no doubting the scope of whats available inside.

But Gridknocker is correct that this cabinet simply has no concept of culture or the arts - where's the 1% for art in the OLM? £90m x 1% = £90k, should be enough for a couple of statues. Better still, move that bloody non-Hereford bull to the OLM.

Big developments are coming thick and fast and no one, least of all Andrew Ashcroft, can stop them. I'd love to be able to look at the applications, but the planning search is borked YET AGAIN - it’s the weekend, its borked appears to be the pattern. Been complaining for two year about this ...

"Unfortunately the document retrieval service is currently unavailable, please try again later. We apologise for any inconvenience caused."

Pretty poor sign - the top third is devoted to BB/HC - in fact 'Danger' is about half the height of the BB logo!

How about the top third saying 'Danger' in red? Stick the corporate drivel at the bottom.

I saw this earlier and thought it was funny 

 

#cutgrasshfd.jpg

I think this is on Tupsley Rise - if so, at least the nettles hide a ton of litter dumped on the verge which has built up over the years and never been cleared - the sign itself is dirty and has a big dent in the bottom edge - what a welcome to Hereford

Indeed, surface water throughout the county has been a major issue since Amey stopped clearing gulleys 10 years ago, contributing to the collapse of our road structure through flood and freeze. I've reported dozens and dozens over recent years and not a single one has been actioned. Yesterday, I noted the new tarmac at the Barton Rd junction with the ring road was laid to a gulley that was blocked solid - does no one have any pride in the job anymore? Having said that, I did see a sludge gulper in Kyrle Street last week - that WAS a first!

I doubt it, this is how they work - fob you off lie until you get bored, move on or die. 

According to the HT the freehold was estimated at £1.25m. With Council debt now at £200m, the fire sale continues it seems, but it ain't going to make a jot of difference. All our silver will be gone and then what will they do?

The City's 'jewel in the crown', used and abused by those in power to suit their own means, passed around consultants so they could all have their fill of fees before being discarded, open to offers from allcomers. What a disgraceful outcome and what a disgrace this Council are. How much lower can they sink?

The Highways Agency are working here at the moment (at night) - I cycled through the junction from Barton Rd yesterday. Brand new tarmac at the junction, abutting a gulley blocked solid with weeds growing out of it - standard issue 'not our department, guv' I suspect. Usual numpties parked in the Advanced Stop Line box as well ...

I fear they would soon be cut down to easily saleable packs at car boots ...

Turning it into hay is a good recycling - dumping it at Brockington would just be a waste!

Another slice of madness not widely discussed or known is that BB are concentrating on resurfacing C class and unclassified roads throughout the county - this was a harebrained scheme developed by the former Cllr Hamilton before he had a tantrum and resigned. The remotest of lanes that might only see a few vehicles a day are now being completely resurfaced, yet the plan, confirmed to me personally by Hamilton in a letter, is to effectively abandon B and A class roads for the time being, with only makeshift repairs, which is what we are seeing. Some of these roads, such as at Hampton Bishop are benefitting from government flood money, but they wouldn't have been done otherwise. Hard to fathom the level of idiocy that pushes through a scheme like this. Similar to one that abandons mowing the grass I guess.

Just to show I'm not making it up, I saw this today -  it’s a 500m stretch of lovely new tarmac which has been laid on a no-through lane which serves a single property. Having been nearly shaken to death and struggled to avoid lethal potholes along Aylestone Hill (east side), Venns Lane, and Whitecross Rd whilst on my bike, I really question the vaidity of such work - it simply cannot be the best use of limited resources. Ironically half a mile down the road, longstanding flooding is still blocking the road and a little further on Ruckhall Mill bridge is still closed two years on since its temporary closure.

Do we really need a cabinet member for grass cutting, for goodness sake? Particularly when there isn't any being done! It's madness!

Colin, the bulk of this thread has disappeared, including my original pictures.

I went past the site today and I guess this is what passes as a repair these days under Balfour Beatty. It's very sad to see everything sliding into disrepair and decay.

Whilst I was there looking out over the huge area of uncut grass, it occurred to me that this would make really good organic hay - any farmer should get two cuts off this field through the summer.

Glenda, how about a bit of lateral thinking and offering it to a farmer in exchange for a free cut or two? There'll be usual health and safety ninnies moaning - give them a red flag to wave while the tractor is around.

Seems like a good idea to me - anyone else?

I with you dh, having been out on my bike this morning and seen more of the council madness that is driving this county to become its own little third world.

What?! Not Merton Meadow car park - the one they're going to dig up for housing - say it ain't so ...

Remind me what he DOES again.......!!

Tailor made for a certain Mr Bretherton methinks. These arrangements always headline on how many millions it will save over 10 years - £30m in the case of Hoople I recall, £??m in the case of NHS/Hfds Council, £??m in the case of Amey etc etc - its never a saving though - its bigger salaries for those who nab the top spots and after 3 or 4 years it falls apart and off they go to set up the same sham at another authority.