Harry Beynon

Planning decisions taken against Officers' advice are a regular event and works both ways. Personally, I have had permission given against advice and had refusals when Officers were in favour. As for NN, I have no idea whether he was able to influence his brother's planning consent but I do know that he and his pal, Keyte, caught a considerable cold over the HUFC affair. They rather foolishly entered into a vanity project which they thought would be 'a bit of fun'. They were seduced by the idea of strutting around as camel-coated Directors and enjoying the perks of being associated with a famous football club. Sadly for them, that is not how it worked out and both lost serious sums of money propping the thing up. Where it came close to scandal was the Council's consideration of a soft sale of the ground. This would have seen a disposal of public assets on very favourable terms to a private business that counted a County Councillor as one of its Directors. In my opinion, the fact that the whole structure eventually collapsed has been a blessing. The old club may have gone but there is now a new construct, purged of any property speculation and enjoying the backing of the local community. Come On You Whites!

It's more likely to be burgers rather than burghers but anything would be better than the eye-sore we have been looking at for years. Then, High Town might have half a chance of recovery.

Very clumsy of Jesse as Chair of Arts & Darts Select Committee to impugn the character of Paula, a National Treasure.

The latest from Jesse Norman MP BUILDING A NEW UNIVERSITY IN HEREFORDSHIRE A few weeks ago I found myself driving up the M5, destination Warwick University. I was going to take part in a unique experiment: an extended discussion over several days about the future of engineering and tech education in this country. Those taking part included engineers, technology specialists and educators from Warwick, from Bristol University, from Olin College in the USA and from Quest University in Canada, as well as key companies like Airbus and Siemens. They discussed what should go in a 21st century engineering and tech curriculum; how these subjects should be taught; how to recruit more students, and especially women, into engineering; the role of arts and design education in engineering; team-building; campus design; corporate-university ties, and a host of other things. And why were they there? Because of the new Herefordshire University project. Because the projects leaders Karen Usher and David Sheppard and a host of volunteers and supporters around the county have a vision for engineering and tech education. And because they are determined to make it happen in Herefordshire. Its all too easy to knock the British manufacturing economy, and there have been plenty of doomsters and gloomsters around over the years to do so. Yes, the service sector has outstripped manufacturing, especially over the last thirty years. But the fact is that UK remains one of the largest manufacturing countries in the world. Not only that, but the government has a clear industrial strategy: to support value-added manufacturing and services. Thats why sectors from the advanced automotive supply chain to basic science to specialised semiconductors are booming. Even so, as a country we need more and better engineers, and we will continue to need them for decades. Thats why there is such an opportunity for us in Herefordshire: to rethink the nature and purpose of such an education, and to establish a national or even world-class new university focusing on these areas. We have a beautiful county packed with engineering and tech specialists of different kinds; we are located close to research centres in Malvern and Cheltenham; we have a cathedral city just waiting for the social and economic energy which a university will bring; we have thousands of young people who deserve the chance to study locally. If can pull this off, it will be the most transformative project for this county since Hereford Cathedral was built. So lets make it happen.

One look at sausageandciderfestival.com would have revealed it was never going to be anything to do with Herefordshire. It's just a travelling festival.

It's all part of the Council's brilliant, cock-eyed strategy to get workers on to the green pathways (cycling;walking) and release space for the spenders -the visitor shoppers!

The idea of a photographic image over the scaffolding was one measure suggested by the BID group when they were canvassing the BID scheme. They now need to get on and do it!

Now you're talking! Trees and a city garden! What a difference that would make instead of chewing-gum, broken paving, empty planters, boarded-up shops and billowing litter!

What a cop-out by the Council. If they had taken proper enforcement action 4 years ago we would not have this sad situation. Instead, as evidenced by the considerable correspondence I have on the subject, our Council chose to 'encourage' the owners to rebuild! The owners, Foreign & Colonial REIT, clearly had no desire to rebuild because their would-be tenants were all on their way over to the OLM! So, instead, they pocketed the insurance money and sat on their hands. I very much doubt there will be a commercial buyer for the site as we already have a glut of empty retail property in the historic centre. So, the only answer will be some form of community asset. As I have heard suggested, even if the buildings were demolished and a small city garden created, it would help to enhance the struggling historic core. No doubt our Council, who were happy to submit a last-minute £500k to British Land in order to secure the OLM, will say they have no money for such projects!

If we are giving High Town/Commercial Street an upgrade, please, please, please can we have some trees!

The present owners of the former Chadds building have also gone bust. That now presents an opportunity for someone to buy it at a price that works ie enables them to charge rents low enough to attract tenants!

Can I suggest that it will be a waste of time re-vamping High Town unless the burnt-out River Island site is dealt with. Can you believe we have been looking at that eye-sore for five years? The owners, F & C REIT, have gone bust so surely the Council now have an opportunity to purchase the derelict site and take control of s situation that us demoralising the historic shopping area?

Don't want to make this a duologue, Ragwert, but there were several shops empty in the city before the OLM opened for a very simple reason - the historic core was blighted for years by the certain knowledge that a new centre would be opening on the other side of the ring road. No national retailer would seriously contemplate taking a lease in the central retail area knowing that brand-new premises would be available RENT-FREE in the OLM in the near future. Considering that most leases are fully-repairing, it is a no-brainer to consider an ancient city centre premises when new maintenance-free premises are coming available at zero rents. If anyone wishes to disagree with my synopsis, I challenge anyone to prove that any occupant of major premises in the OLM has paid rent in the first year. If I am proved wrong, I will happily donate £500 to my ultimate home - Hereford Hospice! On the other hand, Ragwert, I agree entirely that the revival of the historic core requires action on the Buttermarket and the burnt-out River Island site. On the latter, the owners are now in administration (after having taken the insurance monies) and this presents an opportunity for the Council to take control of the building and create a valuable community-based asset.

Colin Please send this montage to Our Beloved Leader, Councillor Johnson. He has apparently made the recent assessment that the OLM has had no effect on the historic centre and that tales of empty shops are anecdotal and a fiction!

Unless I have missed something, there does not appear to have been much mention on HV of the new University project. This project is quite possibly the most positive news the city has had in decades. As Herefordshire is one of only three counties without a University, the initiative is government-backed and will happen! This opens up the prospect of thousands of new students and teaching staff coming to Hereford, boosting spending and stimulating the local economy. More excitingly, the University plans to take up many of the redundant buildings in the city centre and use them as teaching spaces. So, we could see new life breathed into Maylords Orchards; Chadds; the old Odeon site etc etc. Please back the new University project - it's great news for Hereford!

But these are still half-hearted efforts by the owners who, I am reliably informed, are: F & C REIT Asset Management, 5 Wigmore Street, LONDON W1U 1PB A Mr Gerry Doonan is their Director of Property Services. I would invite everyone to write to Mr Doonan and thank him for the desecration of Hereford City Centre which he has allowed to persist for over four years!

Anybody declaring less than €40k annual income can hardly be said to be an oligarch. Corruption and tax-evasion is endemic in Greece.

Greece is a corrupt, elitist society where tax-evasion is applauded. Since the crisis, more people were found to be owning Porsches than were declaring €40k euros income. That's not to mention the shipping magnates who operate tax-free! Greece should never have been allowed to join the EU. Let them go - but make them pay their debts!

Is anyone the slightest bit surprised by what is happening in the historic centre? The Council have presided over a strategy that has divided the city. Many of us who opposed the Livestock Market development foresaw the consequences of building a new shopping centre on the other side of the ring-road. Personally, I am only shocked by the fact that the devastation has been far worse than anyone could have imagined. Although the economic effects were predictable, the Council ploughed on with their mis-guided scheme even when British Land squeezed the pips with a classic piece of brinksmanship and negotiated a £500k reduction in the price of the site at the very last minute. Since then, the Council have allowed the developer, Stanhope, to poach the major retailers from the city centre despite paying lip-service to an anti-poaching policy. In case anyone still thinks the Council don't have their fingerprints all over this, Colin's photo #41 is the former H & M store in Commercial Street. With the full knowledge of the Council, Stanhope bought the remainder of this Commercial Street lease - and then closed the store! Surprise! Surprise! H & M have resurfaced in the Livestock Market where, no doubt, they are operating rent-free. If the Council now want to right this situation, they need to come up with some means (rate rebates?) of attracting retailers to the historic centre. Personally, I am not holding my breath.

Clearly the Council's fluffy policy of requesting the removal of the scaffold has not worked. The burnt-out building is to be replaced by a boarded-up building - no doubt shortly to be covered in graffiti. The Council have a legal right - and a moral responsibility - to insist on the rebuild. Surely, these buildings are in a conservation area and are protected?

I must be missing something! Surely, the idea behind the boycott is that no funds are delivered to the present owners of HUFC1939 (the controlling company), 'cos they are officially practised crooks. If that company goes bust, the Council and the FA will have the opportunity to grant a Phoenix club (presumably run by the Supporters' Trust) the chance to run Hereford United (or whatever name is given) in the wider interests of the community - as opposed to the avarice of a bunch of chancers

At last, there is some movement! After four years, the Council are preparing to serve a Section 215 Order on the owners. This will require a re-build of the burnt-out buildings on the basis that their continued dis-repair is affecting the amenity value of High Town.

I now realise that this topic has been debated several times on these pages over the last three years, but that is the point - it's been THREE YEARS! . . . . and there is still no sign of anything being done. The historic city centre cannot hope to compete with the OLM while this scandal is allowed to continue. When are the Council going to realise that the owners - an investment trust - are not going to rebuild voluntarily. They cannot attract a tenant and would be inviting the payment of rates on an empty building. Instead, the Council need to enforce a rebuild. I invite everyone on this forum to badger their Councillor to insist that the Cabinet take action against the owners and give the city centre a chance. of renewal

I deliberately avoided visiting the OLM until the initial euphoria had died down. Today, I ventured in and was considerably underwhelmed. Yes, it's pristine and sparkling - but it's brand-new and cost £90m! There was some activity centred around the cafés but apart from that there were more people in High Town. The development as a whole is characterless and (even when fully- occupied) cannot hope to provide a destination shopping centre. The OLM will need a vibrant Hereford in order to succeed. More particularly, I went into Costa Coffee where it took an age for the four girls on duty to serve the three customers ahead of me. The floor was littered and tables were dirty and uncleared. The party is over.