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Jon wrote "An illuminated variation on the Elgar view of #HerefordCathedral in #Hereford, #Herefordshire. I'll have to revisit this sometime as I'm sure I can improve on my light steering effortsElectric light bulb"

Green Party activists and county councillors staged a small protest in Hereford on Saturday against the government’s imminent Policing Bill. Green Party activists in Herefordshire argue that protest won women the right to vote and urged people to ensure their civil liberties are upheld. The bill, threatening draconian measures to make protest a criminal offence, is at a crucial stage. Ellie Chowns, leader of the council’s Greens said: ‘This bill is a threat to basic civil liberties right at a time when we need to hold government to account over so many issues. Our democratic right to protest is being eroded.’ ‘There is a danger we will wake from our trance over ‘party-gate’, and other pantomimes, to find we have lost many of the liberties we take for granted. This legislation has become worse following a series of amendments that have been slipped into the bill at a late stage - without proper scrutiny or debate. We cannot allow that. Please contact your MP about it, this weekend.’ Baroness Jenny Jones formerly of Weobley, and chair of Herefordshire’s Green Party in the late 1990’s said: ‘The government sidestepped the Commons by introducing 18 pages of draconian laws as amendments in the Lords, but if peers vote against them they cannot be reinserted.’ Baroness Jones urged people to contact their MPs and members of the House of Lords immediately to ensure that they voted against the amendments to stop, outright, some of the worst measures of the Policing Bill. Details https://bit.ly/321DAbI

The start of the new year brings some welcome news for Herefordshire’s hard-hit hospitality, leisure and accommodation businesses. The government has set aside funding to help them recover from the adverse effects of restrictions introduced to reduce the spread of Covid-19. As part of the government’s £785m Omicron Hospitality and Leisure Grant package to help UK businesses, the council will manage the county’s allocation of £3,996,378. This means eligible businesses within the county can apply for a one-off grant up to £6,000. The funding is available immediately to support businesses in urgent need. The scheme is open for applications until 28 February 2022 and all payments under this and existing schemes will be completed by 31 March 2022. Government has also confirmed the county will receive an additional £440,262 ‘top up’ to the additional restriction grant allocation (ARG). These funds will provide up to £3,000 of support to smaller hospitality and leisure businesses without a rateable value, and to supply chain businesses that have also been affected. Cllr Ellie Chowns, cabinet member for environment, economy and skills, says: “Many hospitality and leisure businesses have been seriously affected by the recent rise of Omicron, as people minimised their social contact over the Christmas period - a time of year when seasonal businesses would normally generate a large part of their income. “And of course this has come on top of nearly two years of Covid-related disruption. “So, I am very pleased that this new grant is now available to help businesses in the worst-affected sectors. I am sure it will provide much-needed assistance and Herefordshire Council is pulling out all the stops once again to get the funding out to businesses as quickly as possible. “As we have been provided with a limited amount of funding, we aim to distribute it as widely and as fairly as possible to those that need it most.”

The Food Warehouse (Iceland) is due to open soon in the former unit previously occupied by Oak Furniture Land on Holmer Road Hereford. Hereford Voice broke the news about Oak Furniture Land intentions to close their Hereford branch back in April 2021 in our article here The Food Warehouse is open to the public and trade alike offering the wholesale experience, without any membership required. The Food Warehouse was formed in 2014 which makes them rather young! As part of Iceland Foods, Iceland's history goes right back to 1970 when Malcolm Walker and another retailer founded the very first Iceland store. Iceland now has over 800 stores and The Food Warehouse, over 120 with Hereford due to open soon hopefully creating up to 25 new jobs locally. Vacancies now available for the new Hereford store include Team Leaders and Retail Assistants full details and how to apply here 👇 https://www.thefoodwarehouse.com/vacancies/

Hereford Voice have this evening received reports that the Oak Furnitureland store on the Salmon Retail Park, Holmer Road Hereford will reopen Monday with an immediate 'closing down' sale. We are informed that staff we given just 4 weeks notice of redundancy this morning and informed that the Hereford branch is scheduled to close in May. The hardwood furniture business announced restructuring plans last summer after it was rescued from collapse in a pre-pack administration deal. On June 15 2020, the retailer was acquired by global investment manager Davidson Kempner Capital Management following a sales process by Deloitte.

Janet Edwards from Tillington in Herefordshire was last seen one month ago today. In a statement to West Mercia Police, the family said: "We dearly miss Jan. Christmas without her was painfully sad. "We are infinitely grateful for the support of Jan's friends, and the community, the volunteers, and the emergency services. Everyone involved has worked tirelessly to look for Jan. "Very sadly, we are no closer to finding her. We would be so very grateful if everyone seeing this would continue to look out for anything, however small, that might aid the search efforts. We thank everyone sincerely for their support." Janet was last seen in the area of Beechwood Court, Hereford at 3pm on Friday 10 December 2021. CCTV images of her on the day she went missing show her wearing a green Raab jacket, blue jeans and casual brown boots with a white trim and sole. The 66-year-old is a well-known and well-liked member of the Herefordshire Community and served with the NHS. She is also healthy and a keen runner. Officers from West Mercia Police have been conducting enquiries and carrying out searches using specially trained officers, police dogs and volunteer rescue groups. Supt Edd Williams said: “We’re appealing for information, no matter how small, from members of the public that might help us find Janet. "The social media engagement has been brilliant and I’d like to thank the communities of Herefordshire who’ve been sharing our appeals and ask that they continue to do so. "Janet’s disappearance is completely out of character and we are extremely concerned. We’re continuing to work with and support the family at this very difficult time with specialist officers.” Anyone who may have seen Janet or come into contact with her is asked to contact us. We also ask that anyone who was driving in the area of Beechwood Court, Penn Grove Road, Venns Lane, College Road, Aylestone Hill, Folly Lane, or Bodenham Road between 3pm and 7pm on 10 December who has dash-cam footage, to please review it to see if they can see Janet and if so to contact officers. Similarly, we ask anyone with CCTV/or a doorbell camera in the above areas who has not yet received a visit from the police to review the footage from that day and time bearing in mind the description of Janet; and if they see someone fitting her description then to contact the police. Anyone who has any information is urged to call 101 or visit our website, quoting incident 654i of 10 December, 2021, or report it online via our website www.westmerciapolice.uk/tua/tell-us-about/ Alternatively, if you have information but don’t feel comfortable speaking to police, you can speak to the independent charity Crimestoppers. It is 100% anonymous, they never ask your name and they cannot trace your call or IP address. You can contact them online or by calling 0800 555 111.

Construction will soon begin on a new Retirement Village development on Roman Road on the outskirts of Hereford. The site in Holmer will provide 80 one and two-bedroom apartments for affordable rent and is being brought to the city by Vistry Partnerships and Platform Housing Group. Platform, who run a similar development at Harling Court in Ledbury, will also provide onsite care and support services plus various communal facilities for the residents. Cllr Ange Tyler, Cabinet member for Housing, regulatory services, and community safety, said: “Providing affordable housing is a key issue for Local Authorities across Britain, and Herefordshire is no different. One of our key priorities is to deliver safe, comfortable and affordable housing, particularly for vulnerable people. We are therefore delighted to be working in partnership with Vistry Partnerships and Platform Housing Group on this project, and look forward to the new Retirement Village taking shape.” Darren Beale, Regional Managing Director at Vistry Partnerships West Midlands said, “We have extensive experience designing and constructing extra care schemes and we’re very pleased to be working in partnership again with Platform Housing. As one of the country’s leading regeneration specialists we recognise the need to support our partners to build homes across all tenures, particularly homes and care services for older people.” Steve Eaves, Director of Regeneration at Platform Housing said, “This is a fantastic partnership that will provide much needed older persons housing in a very popular and strategically important area for our partners at Herefordshire Council. We are also very much looking forward to working with Vistry again. They have a great rack record of successfully delivering large schemes with Platform.“ Some £19m is being spent on the project which is anticipated to begin in the spring.

Several reports had been received between 18 December and 3 January but no injuries had been reported. Officers carried out enquiries and yesterday (Wednesday 5 January) arrested a 34-year-old man from Hereford on suspicion of sexual assault. . He was bailed pending further enquiries. Anyone with any concerns about an incident is urged to visit https://www.westmercia.police.uk/tua/tell-us-about/. Always dial 999 in an emergency.

Hereford & Worcester Fire and Rescue Service crews attended a fire at a derelict building on Eign Street in Hereford this afternoon. 4 sets of breathing apparatus, 1 hose reel jet and 1 covering jet were used to extinguish the fire on the ground floor. There was a fire at this derelict building back in November.

Hereford Cops are appealing for any witnesses or people in the area who may have CCTV/Dash Cam footage following an incident on Belmont Road on the evening of 2nd January at approx 21:35. A female has been approached and followed by a male who is described as 6ft, Olive Skinned, Slim Build with approximately 3/4 weeks of stubble/beard growth. The male is believed to have walked from the Poole Close area and approached the female near to Farm Foods. He has then followed her for a short time and left the area running up Belmont Road towards the bridge. Anyone with any information or footage should contact police immediately with reference 00529_I_02012022.

Hereford Voice understands this morning that temporary black tape will be placed along the low kerbs in Widemarsh Street within the next 24hours, marking the infamous kerbs that many of us (or folks we know) have taken a tumble over. Hereford Voice have been advised that works will begin at the end of March next year, for approximately 8 weeks (keeping road open for access as much as possible). This work is long overdue, over a decade after the road was redesigned and this hazard has been allowed to continue for too long. Hereford Voice would like to thank campaigners like Barb Tilling and Anna Gardiner from local group Widemarsh Street Trips and Falls for their hard work over the years to raise awareness on this issue and also want to thank the coalition administration who have took the decision and secured the funding for the levelling of the kerbs after nothing was done by the previous administration. We appreciate things take time but are very pleased that common sense has prevailed here.

Latest News | Driver Arrested Suspicion of Driving While Under the Influence of Drugs and Dangerous Driving Following Collision with Person on Mobility Scooter Causing Serious Injuries. West Mercia Police have issued the following statement; Officers were called to a road traffic collision on the A49 near the Asda store in Hereford at 7.05am (Wednesday 15 December). The incident involved a white VW Polo and a mobility scooter. The man on the mobility scooter has been taken to hospital with serious injuries. The two men in the Polo stopped at the scene. The driver was initially arrested on suspicion of driving while under the influence of drugs, and was further arrested on suspicion of causing serious injury by dangerous driving. He is currently in custody. The A49 northbound at the pedestrian crossing from Asda fuel station/Drybridge Walk was closed but one lane has since reopened. The A49 southbound has also been reduced to one lane. There is considerable congestion and motorists are advised to avoid the area. Anyone who has any information or dash-cam footage is urged to call 101 or visit our website, quoting incident 059i of 15 December, 2021 or report it online via our website www.westmerciapolice.uk/tua/tell-us-about/ Alternatively, if you have information but don’t feel comfortable speaking to police, you can speak to the independent charity Crimestoppers. It is 100% anonymous, they never ask your name and they cannot trace your call or IP address. You can contact them online or by calling 0800 555 111.

This is not just a coffee shop... After months and months of hard work and a lot of investment, locally owned Eden Coffee House Hereford officially open their doors this Wednesday. Herefordian’s, Phil and Karen decided they wanted to create a very cool space in the middle of our fabulous city and what better location than right opposite Hereford's most famous Black and White House museum landmark. As an advertising partner, Hereford Voice were given exclusive access before the soft opening earlier this afternoon to be able to capture some photographs of this fabulous completely renovated property. Over the past few months we have been talking with the new owners to find out how this coffee shop differs from some others. Karen and Phil told us that their mantra is to have an independent coffee shop, sourcing quality local produce where possible as well as offering something a little different and creating at least 10 new jobs! There will be a big focus on being a friendly and relaxing environment, where everyone will enjoy the warmth and personality from the staff. Eden Coffee House is going to be full of plants too, many of which will be for sale. This lovely old building has been sat empty for a long time and has now been transformed into a relaxing space where people will be able to enjoy this beautiful building once again. Phil and Karen have financed this project at great expense to themselves and they wanted to bring this building back to its former glory and in doing so have exposed some beautiful old hidden beams, wonderful brickwork and during the renovation work their builders have unearthed lots of historic features, such as the original butchers bricks from back when the butchers shop ceased trading in 1930 and predates back into the 1800s. The building now showcases, much of the original features, and includes some modern twists, such as the new amazing steel staircase. We already got a great vibe during our visit today and the coffee is lush! All the produce and cakes are daily fresh and not frozen and they also have the wonderful award winning Peter Cooks Bread available. Best of all Eden Coffee House is DOG FRIENDLY Hereford Voice will be keeping you up to date with the progress and any special offers over the coming months, so keep an eye open, in the meantime, please support our local independents and pop in and check out this fabulous new business which officially opens this Wednesday. We would like to wish Phil and Karen all the very best of luck with their new venture

Hereford Voice asked Herefordshire Council for a breakdown on what car parking charges are used to pay for and got this helpful infographic sent to us. They told us that car parking charges are primarily used to control limited space in the City and towns to keep the churn rate high in the City and town centres, making sure there is availability for those that want to drive in to the centre – quick stop in Broad Street to go to the bank or quick stop in King Street to pick up from the King Street Kitchen - and that they use lower tariffs to encourage longer stay/commuters to use car parks on the edges of the City or the market town centres. They also use the valuable income from car parking (quite a lot from penalty notices too) to subsidise transport related Council services, particularly those, like school transport, that has suffered as a result of severe government cuts to local authorities like Herefordshire (one grant alone, the Revenue Support Grant has been cut from over £62 million in 2010 to £600k in 2021 – and yes, both our MPs voted for many cuts over the last decade. Jesse Norman - https://hfd.news/bzn Bill Wiggin - https://hfd.news/k69 🔹Do you object to paying a premium to park in the City or town centres? 🔹Do you prefer to park further out and spend longer in town? 🔹How does a Council manage limited spaces in the centres? Some commentators think free parking is the panacea that will revitalise High Street trading – do you think so too or is that too simplistic (and perhaps a deliberately provocative view)? Cwmbran is often cited as an example of a town that offers free parking. Aside from the fact that the parking is free because of a very large private shopping centre that allows unrestricted parking on its 3000-space carpark, is Cwmbran more attractive and prosperous than our very own local retail and historic cores? The parking team in Herefordshire Council have confirmed Christmas late night shopping and free Saturdays are still offered in the run up to Christmas and the City and Town Councils choose which days or half days suit them best. An emotive subject and one that presses many of our buttons. So is it time to stop complaining about paying less than many people spend on coffee in a day, or should we have free parking in Hereford and the surrounding market towns and the inevitable reduced public services that would follow?

Twinkling lights, mulled wine, a festive atmosphere and fabulous gifts – Christmas markets are one of England's fondest traditions. Many cities enjoy wonderful Christmas Markets throughout the festive period, with their classic wooden chalets often showcasing local produce, wines, crafts, food and gifts. Which is your favourite market and would you support bringing this tradition to Hereford ? Ho ho ho 🎅 Let us see if we can influence Herefordshire Council and Hereford City Council to get behind our idea to bring a tradtional Christmas Market to Hereford in the next few years.

Weapons and firearms surrendered for destruction to officers at Hereford police station following the current national knife amnesty. 'Operation Sceptre' knife amnesty is currently running nationally, where people can drop any knives into the drop boxes located at various police stations across the country with 'No Questions Asked' Operation Sceptre is a national initiative which takes place twice a year, and aims to reduce knife crime by targeting those carrying weapons, disrupting the supply of knives, raising awareness of the dangers of knife crime, and providing young people with alternatives to crime.

Hereford & Worcester Fire and Rescue Service crews are currently at the scene in Eign Street. The street is currently closed from Steels Garage to Sainsbury's due to the on going fire at the building adjacent to the Old Eye Hospital location. Firefighters bravely entered the burning building initially to get the fire under control. The are 8 fire appliances currently on the scene as firefighters continue to deal with the blaze.

It looks like the Old Market shopping centre may have tenant soon for the 83,000 sq ft empty building formally occupied by Debenhams. The Old Market has 32 - retail and leisure units owned by British Land Company PLC. (Rumours are that is could possibly be Primark who are looking to expand their operation in the UK, but that is only a rumor) Who would you like to see occupy this building in such a prime location in Hereford ?

STATEMENT | "Yeomans Travel have made the difficult decision to withdraw most of their commercial bus services in the City of Hereford, the last day being New Year’s Eve, Friday 31st December 2021. Yeomans Travel has been family owned for over a century and currently provides bus and school services, contracts, private hire and holiday tours. In September 2015 we stepped in and kept the bus services running when First closed their Hereford depot citing that it was not viable to operate with such low passenger numbers. Most of the Hereford city bus services are run on a commercial basis without any Council subsidy. The Government had given financial support to all bus companies during the Covid crisis to keep some services operating but this finished at the end of September. Since then we have continued to operate these services without support but this is not sustainable. In recent years, and especially since the start of the Covid pandemic, the number of passengers carried has been in slow decline as more people have bought cars and traffic congestion in the city has got steadily worse. The rise of out-of-town shopping and employment centres has also reduced demand for travel into the city centre. There have been no discussions with local operators about bus priority or traffic issues until recently when the Government unveiled a package to local councils to assist bus travel. We are now carrying only 50% of the numbers of bus passengers that we were carrying in 2019 and this is unfortunately typical of bus services across the whole of England and like many others are also having to absorb the large increase in fuel costs. Whilst Yeomans Travel is aware that Herefordshire Council is working on a new Bus Strategy that will involve support for bus services across the County, we are having to act now to protect the future of the Company. We are upset that the Council have not even mentioned the reason we are stopping these services in their press release. When we informed them, with the reasons behind it, they offered no assistance or asked what they could do to help other than to ask us to carry on until April. If it is not financially viable, why would we continue until then? There was not even a thank you for stepping in with six weeks’ notice and solving the problems 6 years ago when First did the same thing only on a bigger scale. Therefore the following services will be affected from this date: City services 71 (Credenhill), 72 (Bobblestock), 74S (Bishops School), 77A (College Green and Bobblestock circular), 79A/88 (Putson and Redhill) will be withdrawn. Service 74 to Newton Farm will continue to operate but the route via Hunderton will be withdrawn. Service 78/78X to Rotherwas/Skylon Park will also continue to run. We had given Herefordshire Council the statutory notice required before withdrawing these bus services and they have already published a tender to operate emergency timetables on these routes, which they also failed to mention. These will now be financially supported, if we had been offered this we would have continued operating these services which would have meant no disruption to services at all and saved a lot of time and effort all round. There are no job losses created by these changes and we will still be operating our subsidised services throughout Herefordshire. We would like to thank our staff for their hard work and passengers for their custom and support over the years but we cannot continue to operate something that is not commercially viable"

Local bus operator Yeomans has provided notice that it intends to withdraw a large proportion of its commercial services in Hereford from 1 January 2022. The council has held discussions with Yeomans to request that they delay their withdrawal of services until April 2022. This would provide time for the council and local operators to plan and put in place alternatives to ensure continuity of service for people currently reliant on Yeomans bus services. Yeomans have declined this request. The council is holding discussions with other operators regarding replacing the withdrawn services, or putting in place alternatives on a commercial basis so that some continuity of service might be maintained. Due to the very limited timescales involved it is unclear if any operators will have sufficient time to put alternative services in place. The council recently submitted an £18.3m funding bid to Department for Transport as part of the national bus strategy and hopes to receive additional funding to invest in buses from April 2022. Following the announcement made by Yeomans, the council has decided to bring forward plans for improvements to bus services and is requesting formal proposals from operators for an improved bus service for Hereford City. Depending on proposals and confirmation of funding from government it is hoped that new services could commence as soon as April 2022. In the interim, the council will be seeking to tender some replacement services which will be in place from January 2022. This will guarantee the continuation of essential services, including school services, as the council progresses permanent proposals for the city network Cllr John Harrington, Cabinet member for infrastructure and transport, said: “The timing of the withdrawal of these commercially operated services is of great concern and does not appear to take into account the issues which will be faced by the people who use and rely on these services. “We have been meeting with all of our local operators regularly since the beginning of the pandemic and more recently to develop proposals for an improved county network and it is disappointing that only minimum notice has been given for these significant changes”. “There is great deal of work to do now to try and ensure that we put some temporary services in place but also to seek comprehensive proposals from operators which match our ambitions for a much improved service for the city. We have provided operators with an outline of the elements we think are important including better buses, increased service frequency and operating hours, a strong customer focus and a clear commitment to promote services and increase patronage. I think that that there are operators that share these ambitions and are keen to work in Hereford.” How will this affect my journey? The following routes are affected: 71/71A/71B – Credenhill - Hereford 71S – Credenhill – Whitecross School (School days) 72 – Bobblestock – Hereford 74 – Hereford – Newton Farm (Sunday service withdrawn) 74A – Hereford – Hunderton - Newton Farm 74S – Newton Farm - Hereford - Bishop's School (School days) 77A – Hereford - College Green - Holmer - Bobblestock circular 78A/78S – Skylon Park – Putson – Redhill (journeys serving Redhill withdrawn) 79A – Putson – Redhill – Hereford (peak hours) 88/88A – Hinton – Putson – The Pastures – Redhill (Saturday service withdrawn and all Monday-Friday journeys serving Redhill) The withdrawals include school services from Credenhill to Whitecross school, and the City to Bishops school. The council will be seeking to tender some replacement services which will be in place from January 2022. This will guarantee the continuation of essential services, including school services, as the council progresses permanent proposals for the city network An update on alternative arrangements for school services will be provided through schools in early December. Yeomans had already withdrawn the 75, 77, 81, and 81A services, and services to St Mary’s High school in September 2021. Yeomans has provided the statutory minimum notice of 4 weeks to the council after which time it will provide the Traffic Commissioner with a further 6 weeks’ notice. Further information can be found on the council website: http://www.herefordshire.gov.uk/public.../bus-travel/3 How is Herefordshire Council supporting bus travel in the county? The covid pandemic has had a significant impact on bus patronage nationally. Herefordshire Council has supported local operators by funding them at 100% of their pre-covid rates for concessionary travel throughout 2020/21 and the current financial year. It has also facilitated direct grants from government which have aimed to supplement lost revenues (Covid Bus Services Support Grant). As part of the council’s covid recovery plan there is free weekend bus travel for all journeys within Herefordshire, funded through the government’s covid recovery fund. During 2021 the council has progressed development of the Bus Service Improvement Plan and submitted its proposals to Government with the aim of securing additional funds to support bus services from April 2022. Development of the plan has included public consultation and engagement with all of the local bus operators. The BSIP was submitted to government by the end of October 2021 as required by the national bus strategy and will be assessed and inform government funding for local buses for 2022/23 to 2024/25. Government has not confirmed when funding awards will be announced but it is hoped that this will be well before the end of the 2021/22 financial year to inform decision making about funding service improvements.

Hereford planners have approved a proposed new office and manufacturing building and associated development including external timber storage racking, car parking and landscaping for Taylor Made. Plans | Collins Designs & Build & Project Management Pontrilas Hereford The company have outgrown their current premises in Twyford Road, Rotherwas in Hereford where they employ over 30 staff however, this new facility located on the Skylon Enterprise Zone will give the firm much needed additional factory space for machinery, and enough yard space for extra storage as well as creating over 10 new jobs in the future. Plans | Collins Designs & Build & Project Management Pontrilas Hereford Tailor Made Designs Ltd specialise in the design and manufacture of Roof Trusses and Posi-Joists with a nationwide delivery service. Their customers include individual home owners, builders, developers and builder merchants.

FREE PARKING, travel and late night shopping on offer in the run up to Christmas Free parking is available on Friday 3 and Saturday 4 December, when the council’s public car parks in Kington waive their fees. Herefordshire Council have been working with town councils, Hereford City Council and Hereford Business Improvement District to offer free parking in council car parks for the following events: Kington winter food and drink festival: Saturday 4 December (the event has hired the car parks for a second day of free parking on Friday 3 December) Ledbury Christmas lights switch on: Saturday 4 December Leominster Victorian Fair: Saturday 11 December Support Ross on Wye shopping: Saturday 11 December Hereford late night shopping: after 4pm in Hereford on Wednesdays 8, 15 and 22 December (including the Old Market). This includes all council public car parks and on-street pay and display bays. The free parking offered does not apply to any private car parks unless stated. As usual, it is free parking in the market towns every Sunday and after 6pm. More seasonal events across the county www.herefordshire.gov.uk/events. Cllr Harrington says: “We have liaised with the city and town councils and key stakeholders to offer some free parking in the run up to Christmas. “I encourage all those who can to visit your local shops and support them after what has been a challenging period. As well as the free parking on certain days and evenings, it’s worth reminding people to take advantage of our free weekend bus travel.”

Hereford Taxis are on the verge of strike action over flawed policies which Herefordshire Council licensing teams are trying to impose and are refusing to engage with the drivers and the Hereford Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Association over these policies. Licences from next April could be refused for cars more than five years old. The age of the vehicle shall be determined by the date of its first registration, as shown on the registration document. The new proposals would also require existing drivers to complete a geographic knowledge and navigational skills test (also required for new applicants) which is proving to be extremely difficult and only has a 20% pass rate which potentially would result is losing 80% of existing drivers. In an email to the trade from Herefordshire Council they state the following sentence; “To make it clear you will not be able to discuss or argue any proposed changes you would like to see made to the policy” The consultation period has now been extended until the 6th of December however if things remain as they are, it is increasingly likely that the association will have to pay heed to its membership and organise strike action in the very near future and a strike could be in place this Christmas! The original draft policy is attached together with a revision copy below; EH_LIC_Draft_Taxi_Licensing_policy_with_Appendix.pdf Revision below Revised conditions 2021.docx

Good atmosphere and plenty of people tonight at the Central Tupsley Community Group Firework Display at Tupsley Quarry Hereford.

Hereford Mayor Cllr. Paul Stevens did the honours by cutting the ribbon earlier this week. They have so many beautiful, original gifts on sale, handmade by their wonderful team of artists. Open Monday - Saturday 10am - 8pm 📸 The Courtyard Hereford