twowheelsgood

The last of those is for Poundland going into the old TKMaxx - internally illuminated signs were a complete no-go in the City until the OLM arrived, and then all the rules were quietly put to one side. Those Debenhams signs are a travesty. I shall object to these outside signs being internally illuminated.

 

The Independent today:

 

Academic warns of public-sector debt being held by investors on the other side of the world:

 

Mr Clifford said: “We’re getting to a situation where a fire station in Stoke gets to be a debt somewhere in Singapore. That just feels instinctively not to be right. What was the real cause of the financial crisis? Banks lending without knowing where their debt really is. This [PFI flipping] stuff feels like part of that whole process again.â€

 

This should sound alarm bells down at Bath Street! Sorry about going off topic, but I couldn't work grass into this reply.

 

The civilian fireman at the public consultation told me categorically that the new station is not a PFI project - the funding is coming from central Government. It is still designed by an estate agent though. I think the new Gloucs ones are PFI funded. 

 

Decant definition:

 

Decanting is a legal definition used to explain the process where residents are required to move from their homes due to reasons 

 

Permanent Decant 

When a resident is moved out of their property and there is no intention to return them to it or the tenant has been moved on a temporary basis and it is agreed by all parties the new property is more suitable for them to remain in. 

 

Temporary Decant 

When a resident is moved out of their property, to enable work on the property to be carried out, with the intention of returning them to the property at the earliest opportunity. 

 

This term is used a lot by Housing Associations.

 

Decant in the context of the councils's response to Colin's FOI request is the cost of moving offices - they have £0.5m set aside for shuffling around the city as they come up with increasingly ridiculous property strategies. Seems a lot money to pay removal men ...

dippyhippy - the £4m is for Plough Lane refurb only. The Shire Hall is a separate cost, I believe in the region of £3m. They have also just taken on and refurbished the old job centre in Bath Street at a cost as yet unknown. As if that were not enough, of course they also now have the old Bulmer lab in Whitecross Road (Nelson House?) which is being re-roofed following a couple of slates blowing off in the bad winter. Cost - £silly. Odd that Plough Lane was originally meant to be the HQ to enable all other buildings to be sold and services centralised. Instead they keep expanding, despite claims of reducing staff levels. Brockington Towers is scheduled to go on sale this year - for lots of housing in the grounds no doubt. Is there any hope they will get the market rate, or will it be a quiet London sale again?

Generally capital budgets attract specific grant monies from government,  which is why councils prefer to knock things down and start again. They build something with a capital grant, spend nothing on maintenance at all for say 25 years, declare it beyond reasonable repair and then apply to government for a grant for a new one. This equally applies to our roads. Of course, during those 25 years, the accounts and council tax collect for repairs and the like, which they are then free to divert to the latest crackpot scheme or senior salary.

It’s a very lazy, unattractive, environmentally damaging and and ultimately costly way of doing things.

Another example is the ridiculous 'improvements' to King Street - some while ago, a perfectly normal junction was changed, resulting in something which was dangerous, with literally dozens of accidents there. After a while the council could demonstrate to government that this was a dangerous section of road and got a grant to improve it (£0.6m). This they have now done, building a dangerous 'improvement' which in due course will be ripped up again.

Lets just that say the construction business does very nicely out of these arrangements ...

And, as we've come to expect, no comments allowed on the HT site - censorship still alive and well under the new editor then.

The paper was free in the City but we that live in the " Sticks" had to pay 50p for it .

 

I also thought that it was a better paper than the HT - thinking perhaps that the HT might now reduce the cost of their paper bearing in mind that it's possible that more advertisers ( except Biomech ) will use the HT for advertising .

 

Always sad when people lose their jobs , wish them well .

A monopoly will never result in prices being reduced! Just the opposite I imagine.

Another good word for the Journal - I've always liked it - it seems to me that the letters page was better and, perhaps not so much now, but they used to do some pretty good digging of council dirt (of which there is always plenty to dig).

As I understand it, the council have prioritised road repairs over more or less anything else that BB were/are doing.

 

In order for MORE money to be spent in this area, LESS (much less !) will be spent in other areas. i.e. cutting the grass.

 

Kind of like robbing from one bit of the budget, to fund another!

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.

Wait what? So why did HH get involved at all? If they can cut some random peoples grass they can come and cut mine!!

Dear Lord, we're getting there! For the last time, they did it as a 'goodwill gesture', having been leant on by Jim Kenyon to help.

And these bins. With £500,000 being saved by cutting the collections 50% then who's pocket is that going into? Presumably Balfour Beatty tendered for weekly collections of black bins.

 

Bins are nothing to do with Balfour Beatty - that service was flogged off to Focsa some years ago. Focsa Services UK Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of FCC Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas, S.A., a global, market leading Spanish company. So, a good share of our council tax goes to shareholders in Europe. Here You Can keep it global. 

The ward councillor will be pivotal in the process.

The well is indeed bone dry - the council only have £100k in general reserves ... that last minute £500k bung to Stanhope doesn't look so smart now (not that it ever did). 

No, Roger!!

Been recycling yoghurt pots for years - it's quite clear on the council info - "Plastic containers e.g. yogurt pots, margarine / ice cream tubs fruit / vegetable punnets plastic meat / fish trays cream / custard pots /cake / pastry trays soup / sauce pots egg boxes

Ah I see, so they own the buildings but not the grounds? In that case, more shame on the council and great PR on the part of HH.

And no, they shouldn't do it again because this stinks of classic association, if people keep doing the job for the council, the council will think they don't need to bother.

 

Ref BB, I've said it before and I'll say it again, if someone is not providing the service they are paid to do, action needs to be taken

Blimey, this is a struggle - HH don't own the buildings or the land! The Quarry park is owned by the council. The houses around it are private. The grass was cut by HH as a goodwill gesture. That’s it!

As to your last para - Leader Johnson has said publicly that this is the council's doing and not to blame BB. However, as I understand it, we the rate payers have paid for it, so councillors who represent us need to be asking questions of the leadership.

Surely it's in the interests of HH to maintain and look after their own product?

 

That's like a furniture shop never hoovering or dusting.

It's not their product at Tupsley - it's the council's (ie ours). They did it as a one off goodwill gesture.

No, the original link still doesn't work - it’s a link to this page! The link in the quote does work though.

If the government can set out national planning policy in 50 pages, then why on earth does Herefordshire Council need 1000's?

bobby47 - you must know that you can check out but you can never leave!!! You've inspired a whole army of bloggers to get tapping and there are big battles to be fought - we are less than a year from the elections, which must see the present bunch of miscreants dragged out of Brockington Towers and into the Wyeside nettles! The county needs your wit and wisdom to lead this!!

Which it doesn't do! Refer to the 'artists impressions' submitted with the planning application - not a single bloody light!

On Thursday of last week, I was sat going nowhere in Blueschool St (westbound) watching workman digging up new paving which I had seen them digging up a couple of weeks previously. In front of me were 8 - count 'em - 8 red lights at the Widemarsh St junction, all new. I wanted to turn right into Widemarsh St - this filter cycled through to green twice whilst I couldn't move. Far from turning the damned things off, somehow we've ended up with even more lights, and, worse, they don't appear to be intelligently controlled.

Yes megilleland well said but let's not forget IOC are also getting some kudos from this little escapade! I'm sorry but am I the only one who sees this as a PR dream for IOC ? They couldn't wait to get those pictures online! When are you people going to wake up and see this is all politically driven! I would have been more impressed if they had cut the grass and kept quiet, but alas no they had to get it online! Look what we've done how wonderful are we? I'm sorry but being a nice guy isn't what wins elections!

 

I await the backlash!

Jim posted the picture on his own facebook page. IOC were not mentioned and it is not on their site. I think he's trying to get the message out that things can be changed. It looks to be a good job. As I've said before - take it out of BB's contract and get it done better and cheaper by local labour.

Yes, and the council's record on 'partnerships' is really not that good is it? Ironic that the council slash funding to the arts, and the courtyard, and then decide to hitch a ride on this initiative. No guesses as to who'll be doing all the real work.

And just to add, this could be absolutely brilliant for Hereford......we DO have so very much to offer.

 

But most definitely NOT with Harry Bramer at the helm!

Easily sorted at the elections next year. By 2021 it is probably safe to say that none of the present incumbents will be around, so they can promise the earth with impunity.

FB Announcement by Bill Kenyon

Jim (not Bill) Kenyon. Good on him. Begs the question if another corporation can do part of the City, why not all of it? Just delete it from BB's contract and with the money saved, pay someone else on a more realistic scale. Leader Johnson has publicly stated it is the Council calling the tune not BB, so let the council call this one.

Slightly off topic but still to do with planning matters in the HT this week there is a small notice in the bottom left hand corner of page 26 regarding a proposed PA for 90 houses Hereford side of Clehonger.  The notice is entitled  Public Consultation does this now tick the box for Public Consultation? The notice refers you to visit website - www.your-views.co.uk/clehonger - this link does not work.  I emailed Gladmans (the developers) at lunchtime to say the link does not work and still have not received a reply.  Lovely to see such an efficient company are planning on changing the face of the countryside.  Sorry to put this on this forum but I felt it was worth commenting  on and probably not worth starting a fresh topic.

The link works now. Until the planning department deliver a core strategy with a five year housing plan, developers will continue to make hay whilst the sun shines (and whilst Mr Ashcroft stays at his post).

Majority vote, chairman has the casting vote.