Birch Conservatives
Birch Conservatives
Grove Mill, Wormelow, Herefordshire
Spring 2016
Birch branch Spring update
I’m hoping to arrange a ‘surgery’ in Much Birch village hall in early May if there is sufficient interest. Possible issues may include:
Phone: 07801 055 231 Email: david.harlow@herefordshire.gov.uk
Www.birchconservatives.com
Tump Lane development proposal
Neighbourhood development plan
Herefordshire council has announced that council tax will be going up by 3.9% for a band D property next year.
Rural bus services
Kings Thorn bus stop
This figure of 3.9% includes 2% announced by the Chancellor to pay specifically for increased social care costs brought on by his new ‘Living wage’.
Broadband
Road safety
Road maintenance
The story so far... Inside this issue:
A like for like comparison on last year would see council tax increase by 1.9%. HC are working under tough conditions with central government grants to local councils down by 80%. We struggle with higher costs in delivering services in such a rural environment and more help is needed from Westminster on this issue.
The story so far..
1
OWL good neighbour
1
The local plan
2
Neighbourhood plans
Fastershire broadband update The Fastershire project, working to make faster broadband more widely available, has already reached more than 22,000 Herefordshire homes and businesses, many of them in some of the more remote parts of one of the UK’s most rural counties. Combined with the BT commercial roll out more than 55,000 premises across the county are now fibre enabled. The high number of sparsely populated communities in Herefordshire has brought different challenges as well as requiring additional infrastructure to be installed. Engineers working on the Fastershire
roll-out have so far had to put up more than 700 new telephone poles, remove more than 1,200 tonnes of earth, and undertake tree cutting along more than 13 kilometres of road and lanes
By the end of December 2016 it is expected around 90 per cent of Herefordshire households and businesses will be able to access fibre broadband, with most achieving speeds of 30 megabits per sec-
When I was elected in May last year I had no real idea of the life of a county councillor!
The following exchanges in Birch ward have been enabled for superfast broadband:
St Weonards
Wormelow
Harewood End
3
Hereford bypass
3
Surgery
4
Broadband update
4
The first three months were a period of intense training on issues from corporate parenting to planning. I spent 28+ days in Hereford attending courses and seminars. These first few months also gave me my first taste of the six parish councils within Birch ward. After a quiet August I was offered the job of number 2 in the Economic Development department with a brief to work on job creation and business growth. This has taken up a large amount of my time (typically 2-3 days a week) and involves meeting businesses, local entrepre-
neurs and colleges. We have started a program of engagement with the Top 25 businesses in the county as well as holding meetings with entrepreneurs in the market towns. It is pleasing to note the recent upturn in Hereford city’s business ‘buzz’ and we hope to replicate this to some degree in Ross, Leominster and Ledbury.
Speed networking event in Ross on Wye
One of the most interesting aspects of being a Cabinet support member is attending the Leader’s briefing every Thursday morning. This is where the important issues tend to be discussed and it is satisfying to feel as if I have a small degree of influence over some of the key decisions.
As well as my Cabinet support responsibilities I sit on the Audit & governance committee and the Overview and Scrutiny committee. I also attend as many parish council meetings as possible and meet up with electors as and when they need help.
Neighbourhood development plans: Give your community a say in where development takes place Parishes that have a NDP receive 25% of the new Community Infrastructure levy (CIL) Parishes without an NDP receive 15% of CIL monies. Localism in action
OWL good neighbour scheme OWL is a service for the parishioners of Orcop, St Weonards and Llanwarne and is targeted at those who are either lonely or vulnerable for any reason. OWL is run entirely by volunteers who are split into two teams—the first team answers
calls to the ‘hotline’ and the second team is split into local parish teams who are available to visit those who have phoned up in need. Loneliness is a big problem in rural areas such as ours and we aim to provide help and support to those who need it.
We are always looking for volunteers on either team, if you feel as if you can help then please contact Jane Rigler on
01981 241310
Page 2
Birch branch Spring update
Volume 1, Issue 1
The Local plan (core strategy) During the last 4 years the Herefordshire council has been successful in: Gaining EZ status for Rotherwas, Bringing in £100m of private sector finance to build the Old Market development. Bringing Superfast Broadband to 55,000 residential and business premises. And, most importantly, adopting the Local Plan. Building on the Local Plan Subject to intense scrutiny, consultation and challenge Sets the Strategic Framework for the promotion of Growth The Local Plan, whilst primarily dealing with the use of land, does so in the context of how different parts of the county should develop or change over the period to 2031 and responds to key issues, such as the need to: deliver more, better quality homes; deliver improved infrastructure to support economic development; promote a thriving local economy with successful city, town and village centres and provide sufficient employment land to meet business needs and provide higher incomes through a wider range of better quality jobs
Birch branch Spring update
Volume 1, Issue 1
Page 3
Neighbourhood development plans The core strategy encourages parishes to develop their own NDP At this stage, none of the parishes in the ward have made much progress in formulating a NDP. Parishes therefore have the following choices:
Produce a neighbourhood plan - this will devolve the plan making powers to the parish council. The local community can produce locally specific
policies and proposals. Technical advice and support is available from the Neighbourhood Planning team. Grants and support are still available for any parishes who wish to produce a neighbourhood plan. In the case of Little Birch and Much Birch I have a meeting arranged to speak to them about producing a neighbourhood plan. I also have a meeting with St
Weonards and Garway to help them start. Orcop and Llanwarne have decided not to write an NDP
Be included within the Rural Area Site Allocation DPD – this document will be produced by Herefordshire Council and consultation will be undertaken with the parish council and local community in line with the Statement of Community Involvement.
Detailed work on the Rural Area Site Allocation DPD will commence in the summer. The Core Strategy also indicated that those areas who have designed a neighbourhood area but made little progress to date could also be included within the Rural Site Allocation DPD. We will be reviewing current progress within those parishes who have not reached draft plan (Reg14) to ascertain the likely timetable for production.
Hereford bypass
Map of Hereford showing key infrastructure improvements by 2031
Hereford Bypass It is important to stress that the key issue on the bypass is less to do with improving traffic flows and more to do with unlocking development land for homes and business estates. The 6500 new homes are forecast to bring in £4.5M per annum in council tax. Without this extra revenue, Herefordshire council would be in dire straits due to the 80% funding cut from central government.
The original draft proposals looked at a potential corridor for the Hereford Relief road from the A49 in the south, going west of the city to the A49 in the north, and consideration to continue to the A4103 Worcester road. This corridor is subject to route selection in phases in conjunction with all statutory partners. The first phase is the South Wye link from the A49 south to the A465 Abergavenny road, which should be subject to a planning application in March 16. Over the last couple of months and following the first planning consultation, some additional work has been required to deal with issues raised by a statutory consultee. Having satisfied these concerns a further consultation period will follow ahead of the planning applica-
tion coming to Planning committee. The route selection went through a comprehensive process and consultation which enabled a successful bid for funding to build the road and do some additional sustainable travel options in and around Belmont. Subject to normal processes and procedures, phase 1 of the relief road (South Wye Link) will begin once planning is approved. The process for the further sections of the HRR are in place and a considerable amount of work will be required for route selection within the corridor, archaeology and preparation of plans for consultation and adoption, and ensuring all funding opportunities through the many channels open to us, are pursued. It must be stressed that Here-
fordshire has adopted the Core Strategy after years of consultation. The Western Relief Road is adopted as part of that strategy because it opens up the infrastructure to allow the strategic housing sites to be built out and sends a message to business that Herefordshire Council will support business growth by having infrastructure in place to get in, out and around Hereford. To support our priorities of adult and children wellbeing and economic growth, this county must invest in the minimum requirement of a bypass for the city to unlock the potential for housing and business opportunity to raise our income level to support the priorities.
Herefordshire Council has suffered from an 80% reduction in its central grant between 2010 –2020. The only way to ensure our financial survival is to collect more in council tax and business rates. The road allows us to do this.