flamboyant

Omg that's so depressing I was hoping and praying this was the end of Hoople! There really is no end in sight to the madness!

There is a very strong rumour Mike Dearing left 12 months ago and went to London! Remained on his salary and just popped back and forth! Nice work if you can get it lol

Hoople are currently going through a consultation and there are supposedly going to be mass job cuts. How will they continue to provide the same standard of service, something has to give? The contracts were re-negotiated and went live today I believe. Hoople will only be paid on an as and when basis for services they provide. Services are going to slip even further with less money going to Hoople. I totally agree with Bobby bring these Services back under Council control. Hoople are currently responsible for Council Tax and Business rates and Housing benefits. This is our revenue and should not be left to an external Company, it's a statutory service and we should control it ourselves. It can not be possible that it's cheaper for Hoople to provide this service. If payments to Hoople have been cut will they still put the same resources into collecting this money and dealing with Benefit claims? I doubt it. If we can't audit them any longer how will the Council measure performance? As I understand it half this work is done by the Council with the rest done by Hoople. There are two separate businesses working against each other, one relying on the other, which is never a good idea. Also does anyone understand why Hoople are responsible for recruitment yet the Council still use an external Company costing a small fortune?

Cllr Kenyon can you please ask the following questions How many claims have currently been issued against Herefordshire Council for damage to vehicles. The average number of potholes reported daily Legal proceedings issued against Herefordshire Council for accidents on the roads in relation to potholes How potholes are reported by Herefordshire Council to BB How can members of the public get updates on reports they make / for example if I call and report a serious pothole on Monday can I call on Tuesday and get an update? I actually tried this and was told by the Council they could not give me an update. Council call centres now close at 4pm if I hit a pothole at 10 past 4 who do I call to make it safe. If there is an emergency out of hours service how efficient is that service in providing immediate response to an emergency. I called out of hours went through to emergency call centre who took the details. I called the next day for an update and there was no record of my call. Finally does the Council have enough staff dealing with the volume of emergency calls they receive on a day to day basis. (There are a lot of comments on the various forums stating difficulty getting through to the call centre) Thanks in advance Cllr Kenyon hope you don't mind me asking and I really hope you get the answers(you may find them very surprising) Kind regards

Taken from HC website Our contractor will inspect the reported defect and assign a priority and category of repair. Our contractor aims to repair major road defects within one working day of inspection. However, this is dependent on the number of defects reported and the available resources. We classify a defect into one of three categories and each category has its own response time. Our contractor is committed to achieving these standards for highways defect management. Skip to maint What are the categories of highway defects? What are the categories of highway defects? Category 1 defects Category 1 defects are those that require prompt attention because they represent an immediate or imminent hazard or because there is a risk of short-term structural deterioration. We will respond to category 1 defects within two hours, make them safe within 24 hours and repair them within 28 days of the initial report. Category 2 defects Category 2 defects are those that do not represent an immediate or imminent hazard or a risk of short-term structural deterioration. However, they may represent a safety concern of a far lesser significance than category 1 defects. We consider them under two sub-categories and these determine how they are treated: Category 2a defects These defects either represent a greater safety hazard or are likely to deteriorate further before the next scheduled inspection. We will prioritise and repair these defects within 28 days alongside routine maintenance work or as part of a programmed maintenance scheme, and we make them safe until the scheme is undertaken. Category 2b defects These defects do not represent a public safety concern and are unlikely to deteriorate further before the next scheduled inspection, and we note them for the next safety/service inspection.

Omg! Cllr Kenyon ... good luck trying to unravel that little can of worms. Well done in advance for trying.

The Nelson building was another crazy decision by the Council wonder how much that cost to kit out?

TWG the Nelson Building is the building previously used by the Art College on Whitecross Road by the lights at Sainsburys. Council staff moved in about a month ago.

I totally agree with Biomech I have been reporting pot holes along this road for months. I have never seen so many dangerous road conditions. There will be someone seriously injured before long, the current weather is making these potholes even more dangerous. Drive carefully everyone if you see water on the road slow down you can almost certainly guarantee there's a pothole lurking beneath that puddle.

On a slightly different note does anyone know why the newly refurbished Nelson building was closed today and staff sent home because it was deemed unsafe? Yet another disastrous move or is the Council just unlucky?

Brilliant well done

TwoWheelsGood you should post that link on their on FB page. It's not going to get any better any time soon and there's no way they will terminate the contract they won't even challenge them!

Well said Clllr Powell, it is absolute madness they won't listen and bloke you say wonder when we get angry. I copied the following from the Hereford Times. I believe the information was released by the Council. Has Hereford Futures been wound up or not? It is every confusing... The total amount of money available to Hereford Futures from 2013/2014 are £153,000 funded from Herefordshire Councils annual budget (2013/14 only) £211,000 funded from surplus rental income from properties purchased using Advantage West Midlands funding £331,000 funded through the Council Capital Programme supporting investment in Hereford City regeneration Whilst all of the above funding is available to Hereford futures only part of it will be used to meet obligations to its staff the balance being used for operation costs and to fund delivery project work.

Does anyone know why we continue to pay Hereford Futures huge sums of money? I thought this Company had been wound up? There is a lot of money set aside for this Company somewhere in the region of £650,000, I have read on the forums we continue to pay the Companies CE. If that's true why? There were also lots of suggestions to save money put forward to the Council but they didn't/ wouldn't listen. There are several departments within the Council that increased their line management structure and dozens of people received wage rises, some going up several pay bands. 1 entire Department had to lose 2.5 members of staff, to balance the budget. They lost 3 through natural wastage, voluntary redundancy, early retirements etc. There are now two job vacancies in that department a new management tear slotted in and every member of staff at least 20 in total went from a scale 5 to a scale 7 minimum. Can someone please do the sums because I can't see the savings here. All I can see is as megilleland would say is clever accounting... and managers pulling the wool over Cabinets eyes.

Gdj Thanks for the update Interesting to hear Geoff Hughes actually does something for his extortionate salary! I hear he's responsible for most things without actually doing anything!

Talking of misinformation the attached link is riddled with it but our Cabinet fell for it hook line and sinker! http://councillors.herefordshire.gov.uk/documents/s50016898/Appendix%201%20Impact%20Study.pdf

Welcome to Belmont Voice. How exactly did you offend Geoff Hughes?

Cllr Norris, Natalia Silver is the head of the Broadband project (another of Geoff Hughes protégés) who knows absolutely nothing about ICT but hey ho! Nothing unusual there, Geoff likes her and that's good enough for our Council! I hear she's just taken over as Director of Customer Services and Libraries and has been very well rewarded for her trouble with a huge salary and Directors title! (Just when Cabinet have been led to believe they are thinning out the Directors they slip one under the radar!) Give her a call she will be only to happy to bring you up to speed! But don't expect any straight answers.... lol TwoWheelsGood is right we should have kept hold of our ten million and left the market to take care of the Broadband, the only person gaining anything from our involvement in this project is Natalia Silver! Ker-ching!!

Rather than build a University why not convert the empty shops into classrooms turn our town centres into learning hubs? Radical I know but it could work it certainly puts more people in the heart of our city. Our aging population could help by passing on skills and knowledge to our teenagers. I can actually see this working, but I do have some very strange ideas. I like the idea of a learning village, with shops classrooms day care and perhaps some student accommodation. It might attract businesses, selling books, computer equipment, sports equipment, anything students might require all in one place. Just a crazy thought to get people brain storming! But there must be some other use for these empty shops because it's only going to get worse. Could the Council offer an incentive by dropping the rates for the first year? I don't think it's a good idea to simply leave them they are starting to look very scruffy. After all we are in an age of recycling, so let's stop building new and look to recycling our old buildings?

TwoWheelsGood I'm confused are you for or against a velodrome?

Sorry TwoWheelsGood, you have me confused with someone else, I don't trust the word of our Councillors and yes it matters, otherwise I wouldn't have asked.

This is extremely depressing I don't think I realised the number of empty shops we had. I didn't notice a picture of River Island and the Christmas shop opposite Chadds is sure to close soon, I expect it was a temporary let. Well done Grid knocker your math skills have not deserted you!

Manchester's Velodrome, was built in the mid 1990s as part of the city's Olympic bid and was initially not successful nor did it attract members of the public . However, it has since enjoyed a revival as the home of British cycling as the National Cycling Centre and with the recent addition of a dedicated BMX facility is currently the training facility for Team GB's Olympic team. When the Velodrome first opened it was a white elephant, it only enjoys a revival because Team GB use it as their main training facility and because Manchester spent millions on a BMX circuit. What will attract people to a velodrome in Hereford or will it be a white elephant , like Manchester was previously? Without team GB the Manchester Velodrome would still hold that title? Where is the statistical analysis that shows this is a sound project for Hereford? How does our higher than average elderly population utilise a facility such as this? What on earth attracted these developers to Hereford?

Check out the minutes in the following report. A bridge is for cars to drive over Rocket science is landing men on the moon And if you're logging onto a computer in the House of Commons, prepare to wait 7 minutes! No wonder the UK economy is in a mess http://www.google.co.uk/url?q=http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201314/cmselect/cmpubacc/137/137.pdf&sa=U&ei=2hS_Uo25O6PY7Abn5oGAAw&ved=0CC4QFjAC&usg=AFQjCNEw7L8LBBjAVjgjMcgOLoBIyupHzA

I'm going to hazard a guess what the initials of the lucky recipient of this new post are, my guess is PG. I'm also going to stick my neck out and guess that this involves the calls for Balfour Beatty currently taken by Customer Services being transferred to BB. Sincerely hope I'm wrong! It would mean Herefordshire Council lose complete control over Balfour Beatty and have no way of checking the work requested is undertaken. Now either I am completely wrong, I have a crystal ball or Herefordshire Council decision makers really are complete and utter morons and are hell bent on maintaining 100% incompetency! I'm confident it's the latter! If this post goes to PG we are completely doomed! The public should be asking where are these remote locations and how secure is their personal information? The public should also be informed if Council Databases containing residents addresses, emails and phone numbers are going to be handed over to Balfour Beatty without their consent? I have called the Council many times and never been told my information could be passed to another company, if I had I wouldn't have given it!