The future of Herefordshire’s education and learning provision is under discussion again as a new education task group met for the first time this week.

The task group has been established as a result of a conference in December where head teachers, governors, officers and councillors met to discuss how to strategically plan the county’s educational provision for the next ten years.

Membership of the task group includes representatives from the Diocese, Herefordshire Council, primary and secondary schools and school governors.  An independent chair will be appointed by Chris Bull, chief executive of Herefordshire Council and NHS Herefordshire.

At the group’s first meeting held on January 27th, they agreed terms of reference, discussed aims and purpose, and agreed how the group was going to work.  

The group will act as an advisory body to the council and develop a set of criteria and principles than can be applied to the future planning of educational provision in the county.  It is hoped to produce this draft criteria by May 2009.  The next step will be to develop a strategic plan of provision based on this criteria and agreed principles, including options, which will be available for formal consultation in July.  After consultation, the task group will put forward recommendations to the council’s Cabinet in November 2009.

In order to be open and transparent, minutes of meetings will be published on the council’s web site  and schools and the local media will be kept up-to-date on progress.

The meeting was very positive with much debate about all the sensitivities any future planning would need to consider and the breadth of views that would need to be taken into account at every stage.

The priority for the next meeting, which is due to take place in February, will be to discuss principles around the quality of education that every child in the county should be entitled to.

Suffolk County Council’s Cabinet will be discussing new proposals next  week  designed to make Suffolk a safer place to live in, work in and visit.

The draft Suffolk Fire and Rescue Authority Integrated Risk Management Plan for 2009/2010 includes nine actions which aim to reduce risk in the county through better use of resources and more accurate targeting of prevention, protection and response initiatives.

The proposed actions are to:

• Increase  the home fire safety checks carried out by the Fire and Rescue Service in Suffolk
• Increase the use of domestic sprinkler systems
• Improve partnership working and commissioning
• Improve the fire safety protection service, which enforces fire safety regulations in business premises
• Increase the installation of sprinklers in industrial and commercial buildings, and in schools
• Improve the way building regulations consultations are dealt with
• Establish plans for new training facilities for the service
• Improve the way we support retained duty system fire stations
• Explore opportunities to create a number of Rural Safety Officers

Councillor Joanna Spicer, Suffolk County Council’s portfolio holder for Public Protection said: “We want to make sure that residents, employees and visitors are safe in Suffolk, which is why this sixth annual integrated risk management plan is so important.  It gives us a framework to improve the way we prevent, protect and respond to fires and other emergencies in the county.

“Improving home fire safety checks means that we would target the most vulnerable people in our communities, such as older people, and help them to improve fire safety in their homes, including fitting smoke detectors.  Improving the use of sprinklers is an effective way of reducing the impact of fires in houses, commercial properties and schools – a single sprinkler head can extinguish a fire and save lives.”

A Policy Development Panel is already in place to look at the effectiveness of the retained service and to identify and address issues to secure the future of the service over the next ten years.  The risk management plan identifies the need to review the outcomes of this work, including seeing if stand-by funding (used to ensure retained engines can be crewed) could be better used for other community safety activities, which are proven to prevent fires.

If the Cabinet agrees to the proposals, a 12 week period of public consultation on them will take place across the county.  This will include roadshows in town centres, where the public will be able to speak to fire and rescue officers and councillors about the action plan.

The Rotherwas access road has received the stamp of approval from local businesses which can now send out goods without height or weight restrictions.

The 2.2-mile road, which has taken 16 months to build, came into use for the first time at the end of June.

On Monday, September 29, Nick Paul, chairman of Advantage West Midlands, officially declared the road open and unveiled a plaque.

Assembled guests heard Debbie Gittoes, from Arctic Circle, who spoke on behalf of local businesses.

She said the new road was essential to guarantee the future success of Rotherwas.

"Despite my previous lack of confidence that the access road would ever be built, it is now open for business.

“It is up to us, the business community at Rotherwas, to demonstrate that not only was it essential for the prosperity of Rotherwas and the wider region, but that it was money well spent.

“The best way to do this is for these businesses to prosper and increase their contribution to the local economy".

Cllr Brian Wilcox, Herefordshire Council’s cabinet member for highways and transportation, said the new road came at a key time in the development of the area.

“Rotherwas Futures promises a bright future for the area which will be developed to maintain it as the premier location for businesses in Herefordshire.

“Such a location demands first class access and this is exactly what the new road delivers. We’re delighted to have been able to work with Advantage West Midlands to create this lifeline to the businesses of Rotherwas.”

Nick Paul, chairman of Advantage West Midlands, said: "Today's official opening of the access road is great news for Rotherwas businesses and for Herefordshire.

"It solves the longstanding issue of restricted road access - and is an opportunity to change perceptions of Rotherwas by creating a quality business environment where companies are more likely to stay, invest and grow.

“That means more jobs and better jobs for the people of Herefordshire.

"This is partnership working at its best. Herefordshire Council and Advantage West Midlands have worked together to open a first class transport link in just two years."

Carillion Project Manager Ashley Brookes said:  “We’re pleased to have played a part in developing and securing the long term future of the people and businesses of Rotherwas through building this long-awaited access road for our clients.

“The scheme has included a range of environmental measures including tree and hedgerow planting, provision of a hibernaculum a natural habitat for insect and small animals, general landscaping, stream re-alignment and mitigation against impact on protected species by the creation of a multi species tunnel all of which are testament to our mission of making tomorrow a better place.”

Rotherwas access road facts:

• Work on the road started in March 2007 and it opened for business at the end of June 2008
• The road is 2.2 miles long, a single carriageway route from the A49 (north of Grafton Inn) to a new roundabout at the junction of Holme Lacy Road and Chapel Road
• The main contractor was Carrillion plc and the main consultant, which supervised the construction of the scheme, was Amey Consulting
• More than eight miles of fencing has been installed, including a combination of specialist fencing to protect badgers, otters, newts and livestock from the new road
• An underpass has been installed for use by badgers, newts and bats and two culvert structures have included ledges for use by badgers and otters
• The sustainable drainage system uses a variety of features including balancing ponds which help reduce flooding, improve the quality of water from the new road and provide important habitat sites.

Herefordshire Council has out-performed many other authorities in the region and across the UK after collecting 98.6 per cent of the council tax it should have during 2007/08.

The average amount collected by council across the West Midlands stands at 97.2 per cent, while the average for councils in the UK stands at 97.1 per cent.

The average amount collected by other unitary authorities in England stands at 96.7 per cent – nearly two per cent less than Herefordshire Council’s collection rate.

“This is good news for the people of Herefordshire as it demonstrates that the council is very efficient at collecting local money which goes towards the cost of providing more than 800 different services it provides to the communities in the county,” said Cllr Harry Bramer, cabinet member with responsibility for resources.

“No council can achieve a collection rate of 100 per cent – one of the reasons for this is that bills issued later in the year are unlikely to be recovered before the end of March, so there is always a figure that is outstanding to be collected in the next financial year.

“Herefordshire people have a strong sense of civic responsibility, so it’s only fair to those people who pay their council tax on time that we secure late payments as quickly as possible.
 
“Indeed, since the year end financial figures were published, we have significantly reduced the amount which remains uncollected from around £1 million to £800,000.

“While we recognise that there will be people who may find it difficult to pay their council tax, the message for the minority of people who can pay but won’t is that we will continue to be relentless in our pursuit of the money that is owed,” added Cllr Bramer.
 

A new Tamworth website called Visit Tamworth has been launched.

The website has details of Tamworth accommodation (hotels, bed & breakfast and self catering), Tamworth attractions, restaurants, shopping and business.

Link: Tamworth