twowheelsgood

The forthcoming plethora of Debenhams signs (14 of 'em) will no doubt attempt to hide the efflorescence. At up to 14m x 2.2m, they should be effective at that if nothing else. They'll be internally illuminated to to add salt (ha) to the wound - despite a planning ban on all such signs in the City.

Its Balfour Beatty. Please log it via fixmystreet.com, sit back and wait ... and wait. They’ll do nothing, other than take the money, but it will be independently logged. If you report it to either the council or BB, they just bin it - that's a fact. It’s a scandal our councillors slept walked into and will do nothing about. We have no option but to pay council tax to fund a private business and shareholder bonuses with little in return. We're talking £1.6m a month here, so its not peanuts! Pointless contacting Cllr Hubbard, its not his ward. 

Its not just Roman Road, it’s the whole city, the whole county. NO routine maintenance is done anymore - it was abandoned when Amey took over and someone thought reactive maintenance was the way to go, probably  because they would make more money that way. As a result, the county's biggest financial asset, its 4000 miles of roads, valued at £100's of millions (I'll find the exact figure) is grossly neglected, at the tipping point of being irretrievable without huge investment, which of course we no longer have. Its about time councillors bucked up their ideas and started asking awkward questions, but I won't hold my breath on that one.

My 37Mb fibre with BT runs at £18pm (inc evening and weekend calls) and that gives me 40GB which is enough, just. I work from home and, as Biomech, couldn't survive on a slow speed - even 5Mb was a struggle. If I lived in the country, I'd find a way of getting it, I wouldn't expect or rely on the council to sort it. A dish at £25 seems good value - especially as it should give you 20Mb - whats the problem? 

I'm in the City with a rock solid 37Mb fibre optic connection that hasn't varied or dropped once since it was connected 14 months ago, so it can be done. I said at the time Jarvis was carping on about the Council spending £10m to get better broadband that I couldn't see what it had got to do with the Council - leave it to market forces. My view hasn't changed, in fact, in light of cutbacks left, right and centre there is even more of a case not to be involved. Do you know we're paying senior officers for jaunts to Europe for meetings about broadband? BT on their own are bad enough, add this Council into the mix and nothing is ever going to happen. Its for central  Government and private business to sort - this Council needs to get back to basics and start digging us of the total mess we're in.

Can't help but think its a solution looking for a problem - as Biomech says, its just a junction, like any other. The more they tinker, the worse it will get. 

But it's well known that Herefordians have no idea how to use a roundabout!

Would that the Council work so fast! Nah, this has been on the drawing board for yonks. It looks uninspiring, adding to the patchwork of fragmented reactive solutions to traffic management throughout the City in a typically disjointed manner. A box ticking exercise if you like.

Earlier schemes for high density (40+) units in an innovative and very green design were refused. A subsequent mediocre design for 14 flats over 5 storeys (which blocked long views of St Nicholas Church) was approved. This application seeks to increase numbers and add another storey in a similar mediocre style - and still blocking the views - note that it is 'designed' by a former local Planing Officer! 

There used to be a city centre manager, but I think she's gone. I'll make some enquiries.

Which is where? The marketing website oldmarkethereford.co.uk is out of date.

Leaving aside what shops do or don't sell, the town centre IS disgustingly dirty and run down. The built environment - paths, roads, signs, street furniture etc is all dirty or broken, potholed, waterlogged, graffitied, and generally unpleasant. I am at a loss as to why no one responsible will do anything about it. 

I was talking to someone from the Enterprise Zone board recently - he was despairing of anything happening there because of Council intransigence. He said he's ashamed to show prospective investors around Rotherwas  because it's so dirty and rundown - and he's been told so by them - just take a look at the entrance opposite Thorn House - completely knackered road, overgrown verges, litter, flyposting - frankly, it looks a dump. He's pleaded with the Council to do basic housekeeping but NO ONE will do ANYTHING about it.

Have to wonder whether there is the disposable income to support all of these eating places.

Hmmmm, "investing in projects to improve roads, create jobs and build more homes". Improve roads is good, they can barely get much worse and no mention of build new (link road), so also good. Create jobs - yeah we've heard that before, who hasn't got 'over a 1000 OLM jobs' still ringing in their ears. Build more homes? Councils don't build homes, haven't done since Thatchers reign. "We have also included an additional £20million capital investment in to our budget to improve the county’s roads over the next two years, reducing the need for future reactive maintenance." Joke - this is Balfour Beatty varying the terms of the agreement just 3 months into the contract and guess who gets screwed - yep, not BB.

To be honest, that end of town is an absolute dive. It's like the back end of a shitty London street market.

 

By all means, move your business in, whether it be a tat shop or a charity shop, but for gods sake make it look respectable. Are there not any rules on how these places need to appear? 

 

Dirty windows with stock lining the streets and the shop signage is a canvas banner hung over a half removed previous sign. It's absolutely disgusting.

Its made all the worse by dirty streets with broken and sunken paving, huge puddles, broken, dirty and superfluous street furniture, litter and all that goes into making a shitty back end of a street market … except its meant to be one of our main shopping streets (for now at least). I am ashamed to walk through town these days.

I simply can't believe we've been shafted by Balfour when they're only just over 3 months into the contract - why can't we get tough with these people. Whatever is in the contract must stand. If they don't like it, call their bluff, let them walk and do what should have been done in the first place and that is revert to direct labour.

Interest rates are almost certain to start creeping back up within the next 2-3 years - what happens then? Oh, of course, those responsible won't be around will they? They'll be cleared out in May 2015 and good riddance, but how on earth we dig ourselves out of the mess is a very big question. I've heard talk of a merger with Shropshire, but will they want us?

According to HT it was on the market for £1.25m, which was a fraction of what it cost to build and an absolute bargain I would say. At that sort of money its hard to see how they can fail.

G rowberry is not a shop anymore.It was bought in an auction earlier this year and plans are to convert into flats.

The empty Phase eight store and the two empty shops next to it have been sold to a development company.

The empty unit that was subway and the unit next to it have been knocked into one and will open as a furniture store early next year.

There are around 260 shop units in the City with around 20 empty

I see the former Subway and the unit next door are to become a charity shop selling furniture - rather different to a real shop selling furniture. Ok, it own't be standing empty, but it'll be a temporary arrangement - it avoids the landlord paying rates on an empty building and the charity have a rates concession.

East-west (or vice versa) across this City on a bike is a nightmare - you have to cross the A49 and there is nowhere to do that safely and even as an experienced cyclist I have to think twice about crossing at the Barton Road junction, whilst using the Edgar St roundabout is suicidal. The new Greenway is a great addition for cyclists and pedestrians alike - lets see it extended westwards to join with the Great Western Way (off the Broomy Hill link).

Great work there Amanda. ESG Herefordshire Ltd changed its name to Hereford Futures on 30 June 2010 and is currently registered at a house in Ledbury. The info about the 250 year lease came from IOC if I recall, it's certainly how I heard about it. It was common knowledge well before the last election.

British Land's website claims '100% British Land ownership' of the OLM site, 310,000 square feet. 

Unbelievable. Worse still that they use a London firm - 'here you can' ignore local talent and send large amounts of money out of the county. We have a web expert or two on here who now doubt can advise what it SHOULD have cost.

I've looked at the drawings for this work and it's a veritable quart into a pint pot - everyone is aware of the general widths at present and yet the council say they are to introduce a tree lined central reservation, with cycle parking, whilst maintaining the same 4 lanes. The west bound lanes (towards the roundabout) will stay the same width and then the new central reservation. The east bound lanes (towards Blueschool St) are squeezed, effectively losing half one of the existing lanes, providing two rather narrow lanes. It should keep traffic speed down if nothing else. Also worth noting is that Service Yard B is accessed directly of Newmarket St, with no slip road, and so traffic will be further conflicted with articulated delivery lorries moving in and out of this yard, requiring both of the narrow lanes for the manouvere ...

No, it’s the 'crossroads' junction itself that is being named Widemarsh Gate.

The adopted ESG Masterplan indicated a 'canal park' to extend from Newtown Road towards the City, terminating at Jewsons yard, which is, more or less, where the original canal basin was (hence Canal Road). That vision/plan has apparently been dumbed down as the link road was designed, with a 'future canal basin' now shown to the north of the link road, at the back of the timber yard (what was Mansons). It doesn't take a genius to see that the link road could have been raised to form a bridge over the canal and the original route maintained. 

Already being dissected at Hereford Council Budget for 2014/15 - Help us please! - merge threads?