Hereford Times - 14th January 2016 - Page 31
Hereford Times - 14th January 2016 - Page 31
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| Date | 14/01/2016 |
|---|---|
| Type | |
| Format | |
| Language | English |
| Area | Hereford Times |
| Collection Holder | |
| Date of Publication | 14th January 2016 |
| Transcription |
herefordtimescom readers'times online Some of your online comments and tweets MOST READ STORIES ON OUR WEBSITE THIS WEEK Body found in River in search for missing man Flooding update: More Herefordshire road closures in place Flooding halts Hereford business Hereford hotel named in top ten list for 2016 Police called to reports of threats made in Newton Farm FIND US AT: herefordtimes.com ONLINE POLL RESULT poll. bus. it once or twice a week use it once or twice a year. Don’t stay silent on this If you are struggling to pay the bills, out of work or a pensioner on a low income perhaps, watch out, your local Council has decided that austerity is no longer with us, and its time to start spending again. Spending OUR money that is. In Leominster, the town council has decided to spend approximately £500,000 - yes HALF A MILLION POUNDS on the purchase of new offices at 11 Corn Square, on the basis that its existing premises in West St, which it purchased in 2009, is no longer “fit for purpose”. If, like me, you object to the way in which our Council is planning to spend OUR MONEY on these and other projects described in their business plan and budget document, please raise the issue with your local councilor, and if possible, attend the council I A petition has been launched to save Herefordshire‘s rural bus ser- vice and we asked readers how often they actually use it in our weekly The result was rather sobering and may indicate why the future looks so bleak for our rural bus services. ' Nearly half of those who voted — 46 per cent said they never used the Only 14 per cent said they use it on a daily basis, while 19 per cent use Just 7 per cent use it once or twice a month, and a further 14 per cent I Check out the latest reader poll at herefordtimescom meeting that will debate the issue later this month. Details will be published on the council Offices noti‘ ceboard. Graham Carpenter Oldfields Close Leomjnster Spend it on a sensible plan It was terrific to see Jesse Norman (MP) adding his letter to the long list of objection letters from folk in Hereford opposed to the SLR, on Herefordshire Council’s website. Over 500 letters have been sent to the hereford Planning Officer and Jesse voices the logical opinions of many: yes we want the £27 million to be spent in Hereford, but it should be spent on measures to improve existing infra- structure and tackle con- gestion - something the SLR, by the Council’s own admission, will never do. Jesse confirms that the About time for change I A FALL BACK for the county council to solve the problem of the burnt out shops in Hereford city cen- tre will be considered in the next few months. It could involve the council getting CPO orders we reported. I Herefordian Meldew: I do hope that the Council or fire service has been pro- active in ensuring that proper electrical inspec- tions are carried out on our historic commercial build- ings following this fire to prevent further loss of love- ly buildings. With the cur rent trend for very young managers and frequent staff changes there needs to be both proper training for them and full electrical/ gas inspections on the buildings. I Random bloke: Hurry up and get these shops back on their feet. We need a coffee shop that side of the street to get the balance right. I browfaceBO: what does Thursday, January 14, 2016 THE HEREFORD TIMES 31 it mean that “the restric- tions regarding the facade of the building have now been relaxed"? This is an important site in the mid- dle of the historic High Town. and whatever is put back should respect the heritage. Otherwise any developer could put up insensitive rubbish just by stringing things out in the hope the council gives in. H0 needs more backbone. l Cambridge67: The rea— son this shambles hap- pened is because process is wrong. Authority is obsessed with following process. The outcome of this has not been anywhere near satisfactory If process has been followed and led to this outcome - process is clearly inadequate. O O O O O O O Over 216,000 unique users and 1.5m page views in December herefordtimes.com money doesn’t have to be spent on the SLR, rather, it can be reallocated and used for ‘alternative infra— structure projects'. This council is flat broke and is already cutting corners to help save money: many road maintenance schemes have now been shelved even though some are in urgent need of repair. People shouldn’t have to choose which crucial ser- vice should be maintained or cut as Hereford’s LTP4 is asking us to do. I want to live in a county where all these things take priority and re-allocating £27 mil- lion will go along way in creating sensible solutions and sustainable schemes where we can all benefit. Scrap the SLR! K Sharp Belmont This is just about vanity In his letter to Herefordshire Council con~ cerning the planning appli- cation for the Southern Relief Road, Jesse Norman MP has Wisely commented the “main objective of the SLR is to ease traffic con- gestion in Hereford City Centre “ but the Council's own traffic forecasts dem- onstrate that if and when the SLR is operational indicate there will be no change in the average daily volume of vehicles going over the Greyfriars Bridge . and the new road “would only redistribute traffic between the A465 and A49." Surely it is time that Heref01dshire Council found better ways to spend £27 million on sensible sus- tainable transport meas- ures which tackle, for example , school travel. better public transport and safe pedestrian and cycle routes, rather than this vanity project which will destroy the landscape , demolish an ancient wood- land and, cause misery for people in its path ? Carole Protherough Birch Hill, Clehonger With Christmas over and sale season in full flow, it feels like a good time to reflect on how Hereford is performing as a retail desti- nation. Opinions undoubt- edly vary, however it is clear that consumers, the majority of who are resi- dents in the county, feel pos- itively about the City and are shopping in Hereford in a way they haven’t in years. A friend from Ross told me recently that this was the first time she’d been only to Hereford for her Christmas shopping, as in previous years she’s always felt the need to visit either Cribbs TALKING , POINT JOHN JONES Steering Group Chairmen, . Hereford Business .i Improvement District Causeway or Cardiff, but Hereford now has a suffi- cient variety and choice that she could get every- thing she needed without venturing out of the county. The numbers show that people are turning out in their thousands to shop, eat and be entertained by the businesses at the Old Market and the main areas within the historic core of the city. However from the per- spective of local business- es situated in some parts of the historic core of the city, things don’t look quite so positive. With all shops at the Old Market now let, and Widemarsh Street and High Town also nearly full, the majority of the increased number of shoppers appear to be find- ing everything they need in these core streets. The evidence suggests shop- pers are no longer getting as far as some of the sec ondary shopping streets. where businesses are starting to struggle. It‘s important to the success of Hereford that we main~ tains the unique character that is provided by places like Church Street, howev- er as the face of retail changes nationwide it is also vital that we don‘t try to halt progress, but rath- er find a way to help the parts of the city that have lost footfall to find a new purpose and a way to embrace the opportunities presented by change. ‘i Choose bridge over ‘road to nowhere’ IT DOES not take a PhD in crop '— urban planning or an expensive ous traffic survey to know that a con new road connecting the A49 R02 to the A465 will not reduce H: 3 it» congestion in Hereford as much as a new bridge over the River Wye near Rotherwas. However, Herefordshire Council — in sticking to its belief that the best side for a Hereford bypass is to the west nd .Hcrth itr wouid hit he Log —and allthe argumeris .. smcethe i980s Butai east the money Will have paid for something that would take 7;? :JtD of the city — is now committing tic out of the city certre itself to spending upwards of That is not somethzrg that car £27 million on a road joining up be said of the cosmil‘s the main routes to Ross—on— Southern Link Road .mzr Wye and Abergavenny. really could end up so Hereford MP Jesse Norman 15 a true road to hcwhe 9 therefore right to make a claim Cially as ire most exze . 1 for the money to be spent part of the bypass thr: , going east, even without geing hills of Breihtch ml not be to ‘1 into the exact details of any m our lifetimes. « fever a CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE LETTERS PAGES I Please keep letters to a maximum of 200 ”0de so that as many views as possible can be represented :n , these letters pages The editor TGSQNE‘S the right to out letters Local issues will take precedence, A daytime telephone number must be suooiied in case of queries. Requests for anonymity will be considered and will be at the editor's discretion. Anonymous letters will not be considered Letters should be submitted by first post or Moods, for consideration. PRINT AND ONLINE READERSHIP I 23,022 weekly circulation (ABC Jan—Dec 2014- ' 104.264 weekly print/online readers i1 week in print. 4 weeks online, Jicreg/Etelmar Oct 2015: I 195,556 Monthly average online users iAug-‘yc; 20151 (Publisher's statement. Aug—Nov 20151 COMPLAINTS- WHO TO CONTACT The Hereford Times adheres to the Editors Code at 3'21 r can find at www. herefordtimes com We are reg ulated o. Press Standards Organisation. Complaints about St ' * referred firstly to the Editor by email at complaints . s or by post to the editor at Holmer Road. Hereford HR It is essential that your email or letter is headed Corn: at r e in : iect line and contains the following information Your name, email address. postal address and day? 7‘2 te‘esnone number, The newspaper title or websue, preferably a cor-y cit least the date, page number or websnte address of fine a. any headline, O A full explanation of your complaint by reference to re Ed .0 s Code. If you do not provrde any of the information aooye this m5, CGla", or prevent us dealing With your complaini Your personal detais mil only be used for administration purposes. If we cannot reach a resolution between us. then you :3 by email at contactsipsocouk or by post at do Haltcn H: Holborn, London EC1 N 2JD. lf complaining about third party comments on our websne a'iicles you should use the ‘report this post“ function online next to the comment PUBLICATION DETAILS I Established 1832 I The Hereford Times, incorporating the Leominster Advertiser. Published by Newsquest (Herefordi Limited at Holmer Road, Hereford, and printed by Newsquest (Oxfordshire) Limited at Newspaper House. Osney Mead, Oxford. I Newsquest Media Group Publication — a Gannett company. I Registered as a newspaper with Royal Mail. ’ ct lPSC |
| Newspaper name | Hereford Times |