People in Herefordshire are now able to pay council tax bills and other council payments at their local post office.
 
Herefordshire Council has teamed up with local company Allpay to provide more choice and convenience for residents, in a move that will promote greater use of village shops and post offices in rural areas.

From now, local people can also pay any council bill with a Pay Point outlet. All bills issued will be bar-coded to make it easier to use this service. Allpay.net Limited, the payment specialist company, will also be providing a fully automated, round-the-clock telephone payment service so that paying bills can be easy for everyone.

Head of benefits and exchequer services at Herefordshire Council, Mike Toney, said: “The idea is to provide a much greater choice of where and when residents can pay their bills.

“Many outlets will be also be far more convenient for people, with longer opening hours, and because rural shops and post offices will benefit from greater patronage, it helps sustain communities too.

“It means residents do not have to go to a council info centre, so those cash offices will from April, cease taking payments where a bar-coded bill is issued. As well as cutting down on unnecessary travel, the provision of a more local service helps the county to reduce its carbon footprint”.
 

Herefordshire Council is building on a successful pilot scheme by putting in place two extra part-time 20mph speed limits – one at Madley primary school and one at Walford primary school.

The schemes, which have been endorsed by the Department for Transport and follow an existing successful part-time 20mph speed limit outside Sutton St Nicholas primary school, are now fully operational.

The part-time limits, indicated by signs with flashing lights, will be in place for an experimental 18-month period during which people can comment on how successful they are. Herefordshire Council will monitor the effectiveness of the speed limits before seeking to make them permanent.  

Councillor Brian Wilcox, Herefordshire Council's cabinet member for
highways and transportation, said: "These part-time signs will only operate at school opening and closing times. Flashing lights will warn motorists they need to slow down but, outside of school times, the limit will rise to the existing speed limits which will help to ensure traffic can keep flowing and prevent motorists from getting frustrated.

"We also want to encourage as many pupils as possible to walk and cycle to school and this 20mph limit will allow them to do this more safely as it will slow traffic when pupils are travelling to and from school," he added.

Sites for the part-time speed limits at Madley and Walford were chosen following consultation with the schools through the council’s Safer Routes to Schools Initiative.

Children in some of Herefordshire’s primary schools have been enjoying a theatrical performance which promotes the uptake of school meals, healthy packed lunchboxes and a balanced diet.

School halls across the county rocked this month as Charlie and the Kitchen Cook performed by Pawprint Theatrical Productions sang and danced their way through a great interactive show which had the children shouting, laughing and joining in actions in true pantomime style.

Herefordshire Council’s healthy schools team arranged for the 30 minute show to be performed in ten local primary schools.  The show is about Cook Crumble who needs to recruit some new assistants (the school children).  Charlie is keen to work for Cook Crumble but needs to be trained first alongside the other new assistants so that together they understand some of the rules involved in providing school meals.  The key messages are about eating well, having a balanced diet, eating five portions of fruit or vegetables a day as a minim and reducing consumption of unhealthy foods like crisps and chocolate.

Kim Goddard, Herefordshire healthy schools manager, said: “We want our children to enjoy good health and benefit from well balanced diets.  What they eat at school plays a major part in their health and well being.  Nearly all Herefordshire’s schools have healthy school status now and have access to healthy, freshly prepared school meals.  School meals are a good way for children to receive the nutrition they need.  

“Charlie and the Kitchen Cook tour has been incredibly well received by the children who have enjoyed the performances and taken home lessons about eating healthy food to help them grow.”

Herefordshire Council has successfully bid for more than £2 million to invest in centres to support young people in their own schools and, where necessary, help them get back on track.

The grant is being used to fund centres within all 14 of the county’s maintained secondary schools.  

Occasionally, a young person may need extra time, effort and emotional support during a crucial time in their life. Schools want to help their pupils through such times, particularly when changes in behaviour may interrupt learning. The new centres are designed to provide targeted support and help these relatively small numbers of young people get back on track so that they can continue their education.

Unique to each school, the centres will consist of learning spaces, meeting rooms and reception areas located in the heart of the school where possible. The overriding premise will be that providing support early on will meet young people’s needs within their own school in a targeted way.  A mixture of refurbishment projects and extensions will help the cash spread across all 14 secondary schools.

The council began working with schools in June, to explore the type of help and support for students that schools have identified and the building or refurbishment work needed to make this happen.  Herefordshire Council has appointed contractors to undertake this work over the next few months.

“We need to make sure all our young people get the best possible start in life and this includes providing support during times when it is most needed,” said Councillor Phillip Price, cabinet member for ICT, education and achievement.  

He continued, “Once a young person starts missing out on learning, they can get so far behind that it becomes incredibly difficult for them to catch up and they can become demotivated.  The new centres will provide support to help young people through difficult times so that they can re-enter mainstream education when they are emotionally and educationally ready to do so.”

So far centres have been completed at John Masefield High School and John Kyrle High School and the results are already proving successful.

Andy Evans, head teacher of John Masefield High School, said: “As a result of the programme more than 60 students have been supported and over 60 percent of the young people in the school with the most challenging behaviour have made marked improvements this year.  Fixed term exclusions at John Masefield are very low for a medium size comprehensive and have fallen again this year.”

All 14 centres are scheduled to be completed by 2011.

Herefordshire Council is urging people to respect parking bays for blue badge users and is reviving its successful Baywatch campaign to get its message across.

Baywatch, a campaign to raise awareness of parking issues for disabled people, ran throughout February and March last year.  Its main objectives were to stop people parking illegally in disabled parking bays, reduce Blue Badge fraud, eliminate stereotypes of disabled people and reduce abuse received by Blue Badge users.  The campaign was such a big success that the council has decided to run it again during March this year.

For thousands of people living in Herefordshire, blue badges and disabled parking bays are vital facilities which improve the quality of their day-to-day lives.

Herefordshire Council’s diversity officer, Harriet Yellin, commented: ”An important part of the Baywatch message is to try to reduce the fraudulent use of badges. Carers, family members and friends of a Blue Badge holder may feel that a badge is associated with a vehicle, and that the vehicle is the badge holder; this is not the case. 

“All Blue Badges are issued purely for the use of the person named on the badge, and anyone who condones the misuse of the scheme is depriving legitimate badge holders of vital parking spaces.”

The Baywatch message will be spread across the county using bus advertising, Herefordshire Matters, leaflets and free car stickers!  Community Enforcement Officers will be particularly vigilant at this time, checking to see whether people using Blue Badges are the legitimate holders.

Anyone who would like to know more can phone 01432 260216 or visit the website at www.herefordshire.gov.uk/baywatch. 

More than 400 young people in Herefordshire have signed up to start a Duke of Edinburgh’s Award programme this year.

The country has seen a big increase in the number of young people taking part in the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award nationally, with the number of teenagers taking part going up by 20% in the last two years.

Herefordshire has been part of this increase with record numbers signing up for the Award which is managed by Herefordshire Council’s youth service.  

Mal Mason, Herefordshire Council, said: “Each of the three levels of the Award recognise commitment, initiative and teamwork – exactly the qualities employers are looking for.  We all know the job market is extremely competitive at the moment, and as well as qualifications, any activities which can set you apart from the next applicant is very beneficial.  I have even heard of employers saying they always look for candidates with a Duke of Edinburgh Award when they are recruiting.”

As well as giving young people a great qualification and many experiences to add to their curriculum vitae, the Duke of Edinburgh Award is fun to do and anyone can join.  You don’t need any qualifications to start, and training and guidance are provided for you all along the way.

To give young people the opportunity to find out more and talk to some of the Award’s local leaders, the council is holding an open event at the Hereford Canoe Centre between 3pm and 7pm on Wednesday, February 24.  Just call in or email dofe@herefordshire.gov.uk for more information.

Herefordshire Council is on track to bring in its finances within budget at the end of the financial year – balancing its books for the seventh year running.

The council’s cabinet heard that the council will not overspend this year, despite another year of severe financial pressure, as a result of the escalating costs of providing social care for the county’s growing older population, safeguarding children and keeping primary routes open during the recent extreme weather.

Director of resources David Powell reported that the finance team were confident that the budget would balance by 31 March 2010. The position is in contrast to many other local authorities across the country, which are announcing major overspends, swingeing cuts to public services and job cuts.

The cabinet heard that there was a projected overspend of £2.7 million for social care and £0.6 million for children’s services. But recovery plans and spending controls in other directorates, the use of social care contingency funds and reductions on borrowing costs will achieve a balanced budget overall.

The budget report also showed that over 10,000 tonnes of grit have been used on Herefordshire’s roads this winter so far, mostly during the first two weeks of January. This has put pressure on the winter maintenance budget of £1.1 million and cabinet approved the transfer of £500,000 from reserves.

Herefordshire Council approved business proposals to share more of its central functions with the primary care trust and the county hospital. The cabinet (Thursday 18 February 2010) supported the move, which could save up to £5.4 million a year to be invested in protecting services for the most vulnerable members of the community.

The boards of the primary care trust and the hospital trust are also to consider the proposals during February and March. The aim is to avoid the scale of cuts in public services seen in other parts of the country by sharing central functions and making them more efficient. These administrative savings could then be reinvested in essential health and social care services.

Herefordshire Council, NHS Herefordshire and Hereford Hospitals Trust started work on a business case in April last year and proposals include the three organisations either setting up their own joint venture, or outsourcing many corporate functions to the private sector, or one of the three organisations providing the services for the other two.

Now the cabinet has given the green light, negotiations will continue between the three organisations and a formal report, seeking a formal decision will be presented soon.
 
Herefordshire’s unique approach to public services partnership, which is increasingly being seen as a model for other local authorities and trusts in the UK, means that many corporate functions and costs can be shared. These comprise information technology, finance, procurement, human resources, payroll and expenses, communications, internal audit, legal, transport, estates, printing and emergency planning across the three organisations.

The move is prompted by the need to protect services to the most vulnerable members of the community, including Herefordshire ageing population, disabled people and children looked after by the local authority. Local government and health will also focus on how together they can manage contracts, purchase goods and services and achieve further economies of scale across the three organisations.  

Last few public events to help shape the future of Herefordshire

Residents of Herefordshire have just a few public meetings left to ask questions and have their say now on how the county, the city and the market towns will be developed in the future.

The Shaping Our Place consultation aims to help turn Herefordshire into a new land of opportunity, with more and better paid jobs, more decent and affordable homes, and better transport links. Launched by Herefordshire Council on 18 January, it is due to finish on 12 March and will affect everyone who lives and works in the county.

The consultation sets out options for the locations of new communities in the city and the county’s towns and villages, as well as where new employment land could go and how transport might be improved, including whether the Hereford relief road should go to the east or west of the city.

The council has undertaken road shows or events in Hereford and all the market towns, as well as workshops in schools and colleges, business briefings and several public and parish council meetings. The next two weeks see the last few big public events: on 23 February, at Ledbury, St Katherine Street Car Park from 10am to 1pm; also on 23 February at Hereford’s Aylestone High School from 6pm to 8pm; on 24 February in the south of the county at Ewyas Harold Memorial Hall Car Park from 10am to 1pm, and on 2 March in Ross at the Larruperz Centre, starting at 7pm.

“This is the most important consultation ever to be undertaken in the county, and I am pleased to see so many local people getting involved in the issues”, said Councillor John Jarvis, cabinet member for environment and strategic housing. “However, it is so important that the silent majority finds its voice and helps to shape the county they live in, so I hope everyone will find the time to please look on the council’s website, pop into a council info shop, look out for simple questionnaires in the local press or join in the discussions at one of our public events”.

The consultation is driven by the need to grow the county. Herefordshire has below average wage levels for the region but above average house prices. There are 5,000 people on the county’s housing waiting list and demand is high for homes that are decent and affordable.

Herefordshire is recognised as providing a good education. But without a university, or sufficient higher education to build skills and qualifications, or good career prospects, the council knows young people are more likely to find better prospects elsewhere.

The county also needs more enterprises, offering high quality jobs. More space for employment land has to be found. Growth in the county will provide stronger markets for local firms to thrive and prosper - and safeguard local essential public services.

Sorting out Hereford’s traffic problems is a major priority. Previous consultation shows that most local people feel that a blend of public transport improvements and a new relief road and second river crossing is the preferred solution. However, the route – either to the west or the east of the city – needs careful consideration and the consultation details the implications of either option. Leominster is also identified as requiring a southern relief road.

The strategy for the market towns is to further promote their roles as service and economic centres for their rural hinterlands but also improve links with Hereford. Several villages could see development designed to increase affordable housing and sustain essential services, including schools, and new shops, along with rural transport improvements.

People’s views will be analysed and proposed policies developed and presented back to cabinet later in 2010 and publicised, before being submitted to the Secretary of State, who will arrange for a public examination and inspector’s report with final adoption anticipated in 2011. It provides a chance for everyone to help finalise the Local Development Framework, which will be the blueprint for planning and developing Herefordshire for the future.

In parallel, the council is also running a consultation on the Local Transport Plan, which will be adopted by April 2011 and will drive the county’s transport strategy for the next 15 years. The review of the transport strategy is intended to align transport policy with the wider needs of the county and will help coordinate support for growth. The Local Transport Plan consultation enables local people to let the council know what their priorities for transport are for the county, whether it is greater public transport investment, more cycle routes, better highway maintenance or further road safety improvements.

“Herefordshire has the room and freedom to grow, while retaining its special heritage and environment”, added Councillor Jarvis. “But it is up to local people to help grow the right future for the county, the city and the market towns. The local development framework sets the planning blueprint for the next 16 years and I hope everyone will look at the options and make their views known”.

Members of the public wishing to comment can access the consultation documents and complete a questionnaire on the council’s website www.herefordshire.gov.uk.  Literature can also be picked up from council info shops.

As part of leading the recovery of the county after the economic downturn, Herefordshire Council is to ask what are the future opportunities for businesses in the county.

As part of the Chamber of Commerce Expo event on March 3, businesses are invited to discuss the barriers to development and growth, as well as contribute to the wider discussion over the opportunities for the county during economic recovery.

Natalia Silver, head of economic and community services, said: “It seems the economic downturn has lead to a change in lifestyle choices and business. This includes people wanting to balance quality of life with work, set up their own business after redundancy and companies entering new markets by diversifying their products.

“We have seen that county businesses have learnt the lessons of the past with pressure on our key two industries, manufacturing and agriculture, to be able to face the current challenges of the downturn, but what are the future opportunities for businesses”.

The session, which runs from noon to 1pm at Hereford Leisure Centre, will outline the key facts and figures about Herefordshire for businesses to comment on their own experiences of operating in the county and how the council can future support business growth.

The session is open to any business, of any size. To pre-register contact Lyndsay McCron, Economic Development Officer on 01432 383633 or email lmccron@herefordshire.gov.uk