July 2008

From autumn next year not only will Herefordshire residents KEEP their weekly plastic sack rubbish collection but the kerbside recycling service will be extended to cover nearly every property.

Plans to demolish workshops and build seven homes with car parking at Marsh Mill, Bridge Street, Leominster, have been approved by members of the northern area planning sub-committee at their meeting on Wednesday, July 30.

Plans for three homes with associated access and parking on land next to Orchard Close, Eardisley, were approved by members of the northern area planning sub-committee at their meeting on Wednesday, July 30.

Plans for the siting of three lodges for holiday use together with car parking and a sewage treatment plant at Bellwood, Shobdon, were approved by members of the northern area planning sub-committee at their meeting on Wednesday, July 30. The approval is subject to conditions being agreed on landscaping, enhancement of ecological habitats and improvements to the site access.

Could you create a tasty meal for two for £5 using entirely Herefordshire ingredients?

Three new firms at Hereford’s Rotherwas Industrial Estate – Folbigg Fabricators, Contrapak and Country Style Cookers – are putting the environment first when travelling to work by signing up to the Rotherwas Travel Plan.

Two Herefordshire men appeared at Hereford Magistrates Court after admitting charges of flytipping. The charges were brought by Herefordshire Council’s Anti Social Behaviour Team.

The Department for Children, Schools and Families has just confirmed that a total of £53,796 is paid to the ten schools who developed Travel Plans this year.

h.Art 2008, Herefordshire’s open studios event, runs from Saturday 13th to Sunday 21st September.  With 128 studios and exhibition venues county-wide featuring hundreds of professional and semi-professional Herefordshire artists and makers, this year’s Art Week is the biggest yet.

Herefordshire Council has unanimously supported proposals to build 8,300 new homes in and around the city of Hereford, and a similar number in the market towns, villages and rural settlements, by 2026.

Following the news today (Monday 28 July 2008) that both Hereford and Worcester feature in the preferred option for two radiotherapy units to be established, there have been reactions from local leaders in health and social care.

Herefordshire is a safe place - and latest figures from West Mercia Constabulary show that house burglaries in Herefordshire have more than halved over the past four years.

A local company and its director have been fined £3,000 and ordered to pay nearly £1,000 in costs after a misleading advert appeared in a local newspaper.

Following the recent resignation of two councillors, Kington Town Council now has vacancies for two new members.

There’ll be something for youngsters of all ages when the Golden Valley Children’s Centre is officially opened.

Mondays are set to be fun-days at Ross-on-Wye’s Ryefield Children’s Centre with a handful of action-packed activity days planned throughout July and August.

Herefordshire Council is considering making an appeal against a High Court ruling on a planning decision that upheld one of three claims in a legal challenge by the Dinedor Hill Action Association Limited.

Plans for a two storey extension to Oak House Nursery School, Brampton Abbotts, Ross-on-Wye, were approved by members of the southern area planning sub-committee at their meeting on Wednesday, July 23.

Councillor John Stone, Herefordshire Council’s chairman, and Councillor Brian Wilcox, ward member, both supported a special event at the weekend, aimed at encouraging young people to have closer links with their local community.

Herefordshire Council’s trading standards service is advising county shoppers that declared weights on pre-packed smoked salmon might not be all they seem; they could be getting short weight.

Villagers saw red when they discovered that their local telephone kiosk had disappeared one morning – whisked away by telecommunications giant BT without any consultation.

At a packed meeting of Herefordshire councillors, parish council chairmen and parish clerks, last Wednesday, Post Office Limited and the Government came under fire for closing rural post offices despite a huge number of protests from communities across the nation.

Herefordshire Council has appointed an Energy Champion to tackle the problem of fuel poverty in the county

Herefordshire Council and its partner Amey are currently carrying out surface dressing programme on the county’s roads.

Road closures in the Wigmore and Adforton area have been arranged to allow Welsh Water to carry out essential maintenance works.

Three of Herefordshire’s largest employers have worked together to ensure essential repair works on a Hereford road can go ahead.

Work started today (Monday July 21) on a new zebra crossing on the B4216 at New Street, Ledbury.

Pupils at Shobdon School have a colourful new addition to the playground thanks to “talking rubbish” in a survey carried out by Herefordshire Council in association with Ledbury-based company Helping Hand.

Nominations for this year’s Pride of Herefordshire awards are now closed.

Herefordshire Council’s public rights of way team has welcomed the donation of eight oak benches which have been placed along the route of the Mortimer Trail.

Herefordshire Council has been short listed for a prestigious national award for its partnership work with county company Border Oak under the LABC Partner Authority Scheme.

Lady Hawkins School in Kington has struck lucky after Debbie Smith from Eardisley kindly donated the garden shredder which she won in a competition run by Herefordshire Council and Worcestershire County Council, to the school.

A new Highway Code book specifically for mobility scooter users has been produced and is being distributed around the county by Herefordshire Council.

Herefordshire Council is working to keep most services open as usual during national strike action on 16 and 17 July, but a small number of schools will be affected.

Children, parents and members of the community will be partying in Sutton St Nicholas next week as the doors of the new Sutton Community Primary School and village hall are officially opened

Herefordshire Council’s cabinet has agreed to defer making a decision about the future of the local education authority’s St Martin’s swimming pool to allow officers more time to review and clarify the financial business case.

The deadline for nominations for this year’s Pride of Herefordshire awards is fast approaching.

The headteacher and staff at Wigmore School in Herefordshire have been selected for a top role supporting struggling schools.

Adrian Long, head teacher at Queen Elizabeth Humanities College in Bromyard has been appointed principal of Minster College in Leominster.

Shobdon primary school has won a talking litter bin for “talking rubbish” in a county-wide audit carried out by Herefordshire Council.

Extra conditions have been imposed on the Horse and Jockey public house in New Street, Ross, after a town resident called for the premise licence to be reviewed.

As petrol prices continue to rise, Herefordshire Council is encouraging the county’s motorists to take a Smart approach to driving which will cut the cost.

Herefordshire Council’s libraries service launched this year’s summer reading challenge, Team Read, at the Youth Games on Friday, July 4.

Herefordshire Council’s cabinet will hear this week (Thursday 10 July 2008) that a local education authority swimming pool, which is dogged by long-term structural faults and leakage, will cost nearly £300,000 to repair and make energy efficient.  In addition, the ongoing cost of keeping St Martin’s swimming pool in Hereford open would top £137,000 a year, says an independent study

The campaign to save Herefordshire’s rural telephone boxes gathers pace as communities now identify 77 they say must be saved, out of 111 under threat of closure by telecommunications giant BT.

School pupils throughout the UK are to share the secrets of Wigmore School’s success as both the school and head teacher will become national leaders of education from 1st September

With the summer holidays nearly upon us, a passport scheme which allows free access to a range of Herefordshire’s tourist attractions has been re-launched.

The county’s past will be coming alive throughout Herefordshire Archaeology Week which kicks off on Saturday, July 19.

The colourful exhibition Quilting Across Borders being held at Hereford Museum and Art Gallery got off to a flying start when 70 people attended the private view.

Herefordshire Council’s contractors Amey Wye Valley will be carrying out work to rebuild damaged parapets on Mordiford Bridge, Mordiford, on four Sundays in August.

Herefordshire’s calendar of events is growing every year with 100s of concerts, parties, fund-raisers and charitable bashes taking place.

If you’re stuck for something to do this summer, get along to Queenswood Country Park as, whatever the weather, lots of events are planned for the school holidays to keep you busy!

A vine weevil called Otiorhynchus aurifer, a new insect species for Herefordshire, has been identified by an expert collection volunteer at Herefordshire Council’s Museum Resource & Learning Centre.

Herefordshire Council’s first part-time 20mph speed limit outside the newly opened Sutton Primary School on the C1125 is now in operation.

With the rising cost of petrol, many people are seeking ways to make savings and car sharing is one way to significantly reduce the costs of car journeys.

Victims of domestic abuse in Herefordshire will now have extra support to increase their safety and convict offenders, thanks to the creation of a new Independent Domestic Violence Advisor (IDVA) post at West Mercia Women’s Aid.

The French Market from Normandy is back in the county and is to set up in Ross-on-Wye and Hereford  this Friday and Saturday, July 4 and 5.

Herefordshire Council’s animal health department has linked up with other local authorities to educate the public on how their service safeguards the food on our plates.

Today (July 1) marks the first anniversary of the introduction of new smoke free legislation and latest figures from Herefordshire Council show most premises have complied with the law.

People in Herefordshire overwhelmingly want to save their local public telephones from being axed by telecommunications giant BT. Herefordshire Council is fighting BT’s proposals to scrap over 100 countryside phone kiosks and so far, parish councils and local communities have contacted the council concerning 60 separate pay phones. In all but two cases, they want the phones to stay.

Works to the Ross Flood Alleviation Scheme is making good progress again, following difficulties with the tunnelling works.

Highway design for the new bridge
As previously stated the key to the proposal for an accelerated programme for the replacement bridge is the removal of time for contingencies outside the control of Network Rail and Herefordshire Council and a minimisation of design and construction processes. This clearly means that there are difficult decisions to be made on what is attainable in such a short time.