It’s been a busy month since the elections on 4th May.

This is a some of the things I’ve been up to.

Around the ward

I’ve reported a number of issues to the Council and to Connexus. These include:

• some offensive graffitti was dealt with very promptly (thank you)
• branches obscuring a speed limit sign were also trimmed promptly, though in my view the view is still obscured until you are very close so I have raised this again
• the weeds overhanging the path between Frank Owen Court and Penn Grove Road haven’t been dealt with yet and are becoming quite spectacular
• the broken street sign for Admiral’s close which, apparently, will not be repaired because Herefordshire Council currently doesn’t fund this work. It has been patched for now. I’ll see if I can find a way to fix or replace it.
• a complaint about people overstaying in Churchill Gardens car park. the Council increased parking patrols and the problem seems to have diminished

You can report any problems you see on roads and pavements in the ward to Herefordshire Council. Any problems on Connexus land (for example around the garages) can be reported using Connexus’s contact form. If you do report anything, let me know and I’ll keep an eye on it.

I’ve got a number of other specific cases that I’m helping local residents with. If you have a concern that you think I could help with, please get in touch.

At the council

I’ve attended 16hrs of training since being elected and there’s more still to come. It’s great that both the county and city councils offer this.

At the Annual Council meeting of Herefordshire Council the Conservatives and Independents elected a Conservative to be the Chairperson of the council. No party has an overall majority on the council. The Conservatives proposed a candidate for Leader and the Greens proposed a candidate for Leader. We didn’t support either of these candidates but the Conservatives won the most votes and so the Conservatives have formed the Cabinet.

I’ll be serving on the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee. You are probably aware that Children’s Services at Herefordshire Council is currently rated Inadequate. It’s vitally important that these services improve and I look forward to playing my part in that by scrutinising the work of the council and the decisions of the Cabinet in this regard.

At the City Council I attended my first Mayor Making (contratulations to Mayor Jacqui Carwardine). On the city I will be serving on the Climate and Biodiversity Committe and the Community Development Committe. Both really important areas for College Ward and the wider city.

Get in touch

You can contact me at any time through this website, by email, by Facebook or by mobile. I’ll be getting out to meet groups in the ward. If you are holding a resident’s meeting or another community meeting I’d love to come along and meet you.

Hereford Liberal Democrats hold a surgery every Saturday morning at our Office in St Owens’ Street. We take it in turns so it won’t always be me but there will always be a councillor who can listen to your concerns.

On 4th May 2023 the residents of College Ward, and the rest of Herefordshire went to the polls to vote for local councillors.

I’m very pleased to say that I was returned as the councillor for College Ward for both Hereford City Council and Herefordshire Council.

Across Herefordshire, Liberal Democrats won 12 of the 53 wards making us the second largest party on the county council. The county council is responsible for transport, social care, housing, planning and a host of other important local issues.

Here’s a summary of the Herefordshire Council election results from the Council’s website.

In Hereford city we won 12 of the 18 wards giving us a majority on the city council. The city council is responsible for more community focused services such as small grants, allotments and so on. Here is a summary of the City Council election results (there are two councillors returned for Newton Farm and two for Hinton and Hunderton one councillor is returned for each of the other wards).

A series of notices have appeared across the ward about changes to the parking restrictions. They relate to a very large proposed order which will make all sorts of changes to existing parking orders in College Ward and further afield. You can see the proposed parking order here.

I’m going to highlight the proposals that affect College Ward.

Churchill Close

Changing the current single yellow lines to permit parking.

Russell Close, Burwood Close, Newstead Close

Again changing the single yellow lines to a permit parking area.

St Barnabas Close

Double yellow lines to be kept.

Venns Lane

Single yellow line restrictions for the whole length (apart from double yellow lines near junctions).

Moreland Avenue, Audley Crescent, Courtnay Rise

Replacing single yellow lines with a permit parking restriction. There has been a bit of discussion about this in the Crescent Crew Facebook Group.

General enquiries relating to the proposal should be referred to the Traffic Management Team at ADL
Traffic and Highways Engineering Ltd (Tel: 01454 332100).

Representations of support or objection to the proposal together with the grounds on which they are made must be sent in writing to the Traffic Management Team, ADL Traffic
and Highways Engineering Ltd, ADL House, Oaklands Business Park, Armstrong Way, Yate, Bristol
BS37 5NA, or by email to info@adltraffic.co.uk

Do let me know if you object to or support any of these changes.

Residents on Old School Lane raised the issue of speeding traffic with me. I was delighted to introduce some of them to PCSO Edward Busk who carried out speed monitoring this afternoon. This will help to get some hard evidence of the scale of the problem. I’ll continue working with the residents to get a solution.

I’ve been out listening to voters around College Ward. The people I’ve spoken to don’t want unrealistic things from their public services. One thing they really do want is for the streets to be kept clean and for the ward to be maintained to a basic level. Blocked drains like this aren’t simply unsightly but they can create local flooding and damage the road surface. It’s not the sort of thing that you can open with a ribbon but it is the sort of thing we should be able to expect from our local authority. If the voters of College Ward elect me it is one of the things I will work hard on.

I’ve been talking to residents across College Ward, but especially living on some of the roads at the edge of the ward who are concerned about speeding traffic.

I have been able to raise specific concerns with West Mercia Police’s safer neighbourhood team but key to encouraging the police to focus on a particular area, or making more long-term progress, will be data.

The most important data is the number of reports about speeding that have been made in an area to the police using the 101 non-emergency number.

I recognise that it must be frustrating for residents who feel that almost every vehicle is breaking the speed limit but it is really important. Ideally a report would have the numberplate so the police can follow it up with the driver, but even if you can’t get the number plate reporting the complaint will help to build the evidence that there is a problem.

So please do report speeding traffic to the police on 101.

Always call 999 in an emergency.

Herefordshire Council maintains a map of current and planned roadworks: not just Council roadworks but anyone digging up the roads. You can see the council’s map of roadworks here.

It’s not that easy to work out what’s going on locally. That’s why I’ve created a version of the council’s map zoomed in to College Ward.

I hope people find it useful.