Aylestone Voice

Where will Bobby 47 get his clothes from??

The time for the election is fast approaching.

The vast majority of comments in relation to the Council are negative - the conservatives are ruining the County, made up of tired old white men who know nothing, fat cat salaries etc. etc. 

Well perhaps now is the time for anyone who feels that they can do better and have business acumen to run such an organisation to consider putting themselves forward as candidates. You don't have to be in a political party to do so.

PS - Count me out - too old and could not put up with getting calls in the middle of the night about a blocked drain!

International Food is closed under anti social behaviour notice by West Mercia Police (may only be temporary)

Free NHS Flu Jabs at Tesco Bewell Street - so I'm told

(Easy at my surgery though!!)

Well whatever the solution from the Labour Party is (and they don't seem to want to add it to their post) they have some work to do if they intend to influence the Council's decision making as they have zero Councillors at present.

Sad to see a shop close. (Great joy for the OLM dissenters) 

As to a retailer being lined up = good. But I seem to remember that when the two restaurants closed the OLM said they had new tenants lined up - they remain empty

Friday 21 September 2018

100 years ago Allan was killed in action during WW1 and as a result of his bravery was awarded the Victoria Cross. He is the only Herefordshire born person to have been awarded a VC

This Friday there will be two events to commemorate Allan.

At 10.00am in the Lady Arbour Garden at Hereford Cathedral a plaque will be dedicated in his honour.

At 11.00am at the Old Market shopping centre a statue of Allan will be unveiled.

Please try and take some time out to attend these events.

In the north magazine area apart from the Shell Store there remain some of the blast wall structures, a rail loading dock and a number of above ground air raid shelters.

Of course elsewhere around Rotherwas there are many WW1/2 structures a number of which are occupied by current businesses

As far as I know they are two picric acid stores. Both unlisted but very similar to the one to the west which is listed? They are both in better condition than the listed one. All three are on land as far as I know owned by the Goodwin family.

This is a very old photo and almost all of the trees have been cleared. 

I am happy to provide a (unofficial) tour of the site

Frankly it is shameful that all of the remaining Munitions Factory buildings have not been Listed. I cannot understand the decision making of Historic England on this. They List the Picric Acid store (well only one of them) and ignore the other equally significant buildings/structures. The whole site should be designated as an Ancient Monument, as has the former Munitions Factory site in Leeds, or all the remaining buildings Listed asap. We have or about to lose the old guardhouse (bungalow) and last remaining below ground air raid shelter on the Straight Mile, a couple of the north facing stores have recently gone and the Council are selling some of the former Nissan huts for redevelopment. The loss of the boiler house is just silly - all it needed was a new roof and it could accommodate a business.

The work to the Shell Store may well in principle keep the building but once the structural engineers have got to it and it has been "refurbished" and subdivided internally then all we will be left with of a fantastic structure is memories. Having spouted this if it was my Building I am not sure what I would do with it!

OK the factory complex may not be as "trendy" and the other historic attractions we have but once you delve into the history of the site you can only be impressed at the major role it and the thousands of workers (many of whom died or were injured) played in the defence of this country. 

Of course the Council and the EZ Board would just be happy if these old buildings were gone and more of their tin sheds could be built

Actually in Neath he is recognised as Amber Taverns have a pub named Allan Leonard Lewis VC

The statue will be unveiled on 21 September 2018

Contract for works at Widemarsh Children Centre

BOOM! - Awarded to Integral utilising  S C Joseph

BOOM! - Up to £55,000

http://councillors.herefordshire.gov.uk/documents/s50058052/Contract award for work at the Widemarsh Children Centre.pdf

Clearly other local building firms need to get the estimator from S C J on board 

So they give the job to Integral who tender it out and then the Council who appear to have no part in the tender process approve the winning bid! The Council pay Integral for a service who do nothing much except run a tender process and then take a cut from the total cost. Would be interesting to know out of the £99k plus £20K how much goes to Integral for doing very little.

I see that with work in progress they have discovered a leak in the roof so have added a further £19K to the costs

Shades of Blueschool House again

When they prepared the original specification for repairs to the roof (at £99K plus £20K how come they missed that there was a leak in the roof. Seems like poor survey and costing work yet again and another lump of money presumably goes to Integral/S C Joseph. The inefficiency seems staggering to me. 

https://www.herefordshire.gov.uk/info/200142/planning_services/planning_application_search/details?id=181583&search=181583

Actually do we know if Lakeland as a business is in trouble? Yes they are trying to renegotiate their rents etc but that perhaps does not put them in the same bracket as others.

Perhaps Mark Ellis who I have as the last named owner of the building could explain the position from his point of view?

http://councillors.herefordshire.gov.uk/ieDecisionDetails.aspx?Id=5086

There has been a message on there for a few days saying it would be down for maintenance for today

There may be good reasons why planning permission should or should not be granted but does it matter what religion those attending practise?

Not to me anyway

I see the Council have awarded a contract for the repair of the Hereford Library/Museum roof - £99K plus £20K

As usual the work is to be done through the Council's privatised service company Integral but the work will be carried out by S C Joseph.

I am sure it is all above board but just how many Council building contracts do S C Joseph receive? Their bid was £10K below those of the other bidders. Perhaps they know something the others do not.

So Ragwert (who apparently knows it all) does not know if there is a New Look in Hereford and Denise thinks it is in the OLM.

Well you could both go along High Street and lo and behold there it is

Yes in retailing times are tough but a major part of the problem is the debts the chains build up - it is not that Hereford alone has a problem

And why do people seem to take some perverse delight in pointing out that shops restaurants are to close? 

You will not need to book as it is outside by the North Porch

"Phil Edwards" 

Oooops

Awaits Glenda's reply with interest!!!!!!

I understand that the need to have a lift installed in the new building was only recognised by said resident pi*% artists at the 59th minute of the 11th hour.

 

How the chosen lift manufacturer / installer must have rubbed his hands with glee!

In now way defending the actions of out of control officers what do you mean by this - the planning application approved in September 2016 showed a lift?

Read and weep!

http://councillors.herefordshire.gov.uk/documents/s50050794/Internal%20audit%20report%20re%20project%20management%20of%20the%20joint%20customer%20services%20hub%20Blueschool%20House%20ca.pdf

http://councillors.herefordshire.gov.uk/documents/s50050795/Appendix%20A%20-%20Investigation%20Report.pdf

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