Month: September 2023
WORLD RESTART HEART DAY 2023
THE KINDLE CENTRE TUESDAY OCTOBER 17TH 7PM TO 9PM
Please book your place on the course as spaces are limited.
Please consider donating to our charity to help keep our courses running.
Simple Skills Save Lives
Register here: https://herefordshireheartstart.org/events/world-restart-a-heart-day-2023-free-public-course/
County roads to benefit from additional investment
A significant number of Herefordshire’s C and U roads are to be improved as part of the Department for Transport’s £2.558m additional investment for highways.
Feedback from the public has consistently emphasised that road conditions are a priority concern for residents, and this specific focus on local C and U roads is to enable improved links between our rural communities.
The programme of works will begin with patching repair work over the coming months, in preparation for further injection of funding next year that will focus on an extensive surface treatment on areas of the network. Patching repair and surface dressing of the selected roads is considered the most appropriate use of this funding to arrest deterioration at this stage of their life cycle. A well designed surface dressing at an appropriate time in the life cycle of roads has been proven to extend the life of a road surface for over ten years. These works are in addition to the Council’s annual spend on the A & B classified parts of our road network.
This programme of works has been developed using asset management processes, including all available data, e.g. surveys and statutory inspections, to select sections of road that are at the optimum point in their life cycle for being surface dressed. In addition to considering existing highways drainage issues at sites, this programme will prevent these roads from deteriorating to the point where they require expensive resurfacing. Our delivery partners, Balfour Beatty Living Places, will deliver a programme and approach that is cost effective, will increase efficiency and will keep any disruption to a minimum. This programme will allow future years’ highways maintenance funding to be focused appropriately.
Cllr Barry Durkin, Cabinet Member Roads and Regulatory Services, said: “I am delighted to announce this phase as additional investment in our local roads to help address the issue of highway maintenance. The benefits will include longer-lasting and more reliable road surfaces, reduce the instances of reactive maintenance into a planned programmed investment in the network; this will translate to more efficient journeys and less wear and tear on motor vehicles.
“Of course, there is simply not enough funding available to address all of the issues on our overall two thousand mile road network. To invest in one area of the county asset, or part of the county, inevitably carries a decision not to carry out repairs in other areas. We have listened to feedback from residents, and accordingly have chosen to focus on the county’s C and U roads in order to strengthen and improve these vital links between our local and rural communities.”
The full list of works will be announced shortly. For more information please visit our website.
New active travel measures thanks to Active Travel England grant
Hereford will benefit from new active travel measures thanks to £306k funding from the Active Travel Fund.
The Fund provides Herefordshire Council the opportunity to deliver infrastructure that helps to enable and promote walking, wheeling and cycling, supporting an uptake of active travel for everyday trips.
The funding will be used across four schemes: School Streets, Barton Road,
Aylestone Hill and Dropped Crossings.
The School Streets scheme will consist of designing and implementing an alternative parking strategy during the school drop off and pick up period. By restricting access of vehicles outside of the school to residents only during certain times of the day, the scheme will create safer routes for children walking to and from school.
The pilot will include two schools, Lugwardine Primary School and Trinity Primary School, which have been highlighted as suitable and expressed an interest.
The Barton Road scheme will look to conduct a feasibility study into how best to link Great Western Way to the city centre, and better ways for pedestrians and cyclists to cross the A49 junction from Barton Road into the City Centre.
Funding for Aylestone Hill will be allocated to carry out feasibility work on the city side of the hill to identify how best to incorporate future Active Travel Measures (ATM).
The Dropped Crossing scheme will upgrade the route between the Royal National College for the Blind and city centre. This route has been identified as an issue by the College, and funding will also cover the installation of tactile paving along the route to assist visually impaired users.
Cllr Philip Price, Cabinet Member Transport and Infrastructure, said: “This successful bid for funding from Active Travel England is good news for our local transport offer. The schemes were all developed in close consultation with the emerging Hereford City Masterplan and the Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan in order to ensure that activities align with the Council’s wider strategic aspirations.
“The schemes will also help to realise the ambitions of the County Plan and the Council’s commitment to improved community infrastructure that will in turn enable healthier, low carbon travel options, reducing congestion, improving air quality and enhancing health and wellbeing.”
More information can be found in the decision papers.
Rebuilding Nature’s Highways and Byways
Herefordshire Council has been asked by the UK Government to bring together local landowners and nature conservation groups, and embark upon a major nature recovery programme. This will aim to seamlessly connect the many natural spaces with each other through a network of natural byways and recovered spaces, allowing species of plants to thrive and wildlife to move freely from one habitat to another uninterrupted on a joined-up ‘nature highway’.
This nature recovery programme is part of a national initiative where 48 Local Authorities are taking on the responsibility of coordinating a nationwide countryside restoration effort on their home territories. As part of the Government’s ‘Environmental Improvement Plan 2023’ the combined grassroots actions across the country will help deliver a nationwide move to restore large swathes of countryside and reinvigorate our natural environments, while supporting existing land, woodland, and river restoration programmes.
As an appointed Responsible Authority, Herefordshire Council are tasked with producing a Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS) for Herefordshire, which will be developed working in consultation with landowners, nature organisations and conservation groups in the county, such as Herefordshire Wildlife Trust. We will also be drawing on the expertise and resources of the Forestry Commission, Environment Agency and Natural England in shaping our approach, and ultimately delivering the local programmes of activity.
Cllr Swinglehurst commented:“This is a great opportunity for the county to map its species and land use, identifying the key areas that will benefit from the conservation and nature regeneration schemes. The mapping exercise will provide invaluable insights and data, giving us the essential evidence base that will help the Council and our partners shape our local plans.”
The newly produced map will join up with maps being drafted by other local authorities to form one complete view of the nations’ natural landscape, and its planned restoration.
Over the next 12 months Herefordshire Council will reach out to local nature groups and national agencies, and bring them together with the county’s landowners to collaborate in developing new plans that best serve our countryside. By December 2024, the Council aim to have Herefordshire’s new (LNRS) strategy and plans in place. Funding has already been allocated from Government to support the proposed local nature recovery programmes.
The Council has set up a webpage where you can keep up-to-date with progress and details of the LNRS nature recovery activities.
How prepared are you?
The #30days30waysUK campaign is running throughout September to help people prepare for events such as flood, cyber security and power cuts
It’s important that individuals and communities prepare for any kind of emergency.
Throughout September, Herefordshire Council will be sharing a daily theme on social media, giving advice and information on how to prepare for an incident such as flooding, cyber security and road safety.
Through the hashtag #30days30waysUK, the council will link to information and trusted resources by other emergency, health and public services partners across Herefordshire and nationally.
#30days30waysUK is about the small and easy steps everyone can take to be prepared and take action for themselves, their family and their community, be informed and sign up for warnings.
You can follow the campaign by following the hashtag #30days30waysUK on social media channels.
Find out more www.30days30waysuk.org.uk/