The Hereford Issue

From the perspective of Herefordshire Council's ruling coalition it would not be an exaggeration to call last Thursday's by-election result in Newton Farm a thrashing. The Conservative Party candidate Ann-Marie Probert won the seat comfortably with 282 votes, almost 100 more than her closest rival. What makes this result significant is that, despite their dominance across the county, the Conservatives have never represented the Newton Farm area since the council's formation in 1997. In fact, they've historically performed so poorly here that they have polled in last place positions in more than half of elections contested. During the May 2019 local elections, Tory candidate Jeremy Chapman again came last with just 43 votes and less than 8% of the vote share. Last week, Ann-Marie Probert claimed 42% of the vote. This should set alarm bells ringing for all coalition party councillors. Why? Because Ann-Marie won the election on the promise of fighting for a bypass referend

A sex and relationship teaching resource used by St Mary's high school in Lugwardine is causing serious concern among councillors, reports the Hereford Times. 'A Fertile Heart' is used by the school as part of its sex eduction programme. It teaches that contraception is wrong, gay sex is wrong and that those in queer relationships should not marry. It also says that men were ‘created to initiate sexual relationships’ and women to be ‘receiver-responders’. Excuse me? That these attitudes exist in society is disgusting. That they are still being actively taught as fact in our schools is absolutely disgraceful. As a former St Mary's pupil, I remember being taught the same message 20 years ago. Sex education lessons were given by the anti-abortion charity, Life, and the versions of family and relationships they promoted were bigoted and outdated, even by 1990s standards. It doesn't sound like much has changed. It is wrong that schools are allowed to preach a religious d

How each councillor votes at meetings may soon be made public according to Sebastian Bowen, chair of Herefordshire Council. The councillor made the remarks in a recent meeting after complaints were made that secret voting damages the integrity of the council. The comments from Bowen are welcome. Herefordshire Council must publish councillors' voting records online. It is not good enough that members of the public should have to attend meetings in person to be able to see how their councillor votes on this issue or that. We must be able to hold our councillors to account.

Council tax is a dirty word. Everyone hates it, nobody wants to pay it. Or so it seems. Because despite the need for council tax reform, the concept is still sound. None of us is an island and we all use and enjoy the services and infrastructure our council provides. When we step out of our gate, we expect the roads to be maintained, the street lights to be working, and we expect the emergency services to come to our aid, should we need help. So we pay into the common pot, to share in the public services that make our lives better. Services like social care, waste collection and highway maintenance. Some we use for a short time and then never again, like schools. Others we may never need but are always there, free to use whenever there's an emergency, like the fire service and police. Our council tax provides us with a collective insurance policy. And what our tax money pays towards is, in effect, up to us. As a society we once took the decision that everybody who needs a home shou

The Hereford Issue is campaigning for a new, fare-free bus service across Herefordshire, to help reduce congestion on our roads and pollution in our atmosphere. Please sign the petition, and please share with friends : http://chng.it/Vn2Bx9VBym Herefordshire's roads are getting busier and busier. And Hereford in particular has a traffic problem that needs to be fixed. Public transport is one solution. We know that more people on buses means fewer cars on the roads and less pollution in our atmosphere. But Herefordshire's bus fares are too expensive and services don't run frequently enough. This has to change. We need a county-wide bus service that runs more often. And, as many other cities have already done around the world, we need a bus service that is fare-free! Fare-free buses give the best incentive for drivers to leave the car at home. Being free means that riders are saving money on petrol and, over a number of journeys, this can have a big impact on household spendi

Progress is being made on a project that will deliver community-owned, affordable housing and an artists' and makers' space in Hereford city centre. At the end of last year Hereford Community Land Trust surveyed over 100 people to gauge interest in the potential project, to be built in the Aubrey Street–Berrington Street area. Now they have now formed a steering group to take the project forward and will open discussions with land owners. Local charity Rural Media will also be supporting work on a business plan.