Around the ward

I know many residents are concerned about the level of litter in Churchill Gardens. It’s a small park and heavily used by college students. The vast majority of students do not contribute to the litter problem but they do suffer from it. I’ve had positive talks with the colleges and Hereford Sixth Form students will be joining in monthly community litter picks. The first one will be held at 1pm on 12th December. If you can make it please do come along we’ll be able to loan you a litter picker for the event. The next one will be 1pm on 15th January 2024.

Finally the garden waste that was flytipped on the Old School Lane park in May has been removed!

Out and about

I had the great honour of representing the people of College Ward at the Armistice Day service on the 11th of November and the Remembrance Service on the 12th November. Following the Armistice Day service at the war memorial the city councillors process through High Town to the statue of Allan Lewis at the Old Market. This is the first time I have taken part in these events with a formal role. I particularly reflected on the people across the ward who have served themselves or whose families have served.

I also attended an event to launch of the new Hereford Zipper buses. Hopefully you will have seen these around the city centre now. They are hard to miss. They are run by Hereford City Council and funded by the UK Government as part of the Stronger Towns Fund. They provide free travel between key sites around the city centre. They will certainly not solve all of our transport problems but I think they will be very helpful to some people. I’d love to hear what you think of the service.

At the councils

I attended a meeting of the Connected Communities Scrutiny Committee at Herefordshire Council. You can read the papers and see a recording of the meeting. We were looking into the development of plans for transport in the county. The council is proposing a new Local Transport Plan which will shape investment in roads, cycle routes, walking routes, public transport and other aspects of transport. Plans are at an early stage and the scrutiny committee will keep a close eye on them.

There was also a meeting of the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee. You can read the papers and see a recording of that meeting too. Here we heard from CAMHS (the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service) about the services they provide. We also heard from the council’s Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) team about the pressures on that service and the steps they are taking to ensure that children and young people with SEND get the services that they need.

I attended a meeting of the Climate and Biodiversity Committee of Hereford CIty Council where we had a presentation from Herefordshire Wildlife Trust on the excellent work they and their volunteers do around the city.

I also attended the Hereford City Youth Council where we had an update on the different projects the young people are involved in. The council also appointed a new member. If you know a young person who might be interested in joining they can apply directly on the City Council website.