To receive questions from members of the public.

Question from Mr Keith W Francis, Ledbury, Hereford.

As Chairman of Ledbury Civic Society which contributed £5,000 towards the Ledbury Area Development Trust Business Plan for the Master's House, Ledbury, I wish to put the following questions to Herefordshire Council as 'Public Questions for Council' at their meeting on 7th March 2008.

'The Master's House in Ledbury is a Herefordshire Council owned building, currently in a poor state of repair, despite being a Grade 2* listed building in the heart of the town. Can the Council confirm that it will commit itself to the full re-development plan for the site, including the building of a new extension to accommodate a new library, as detailed in the Ledbury Area Development Trust Business Plan?

Secondly, over what period of time and how will the redevelopment project be funded and will the work commence in the next financial year?

ANSWER FROM COUNCILLOR AJM BLACKSHAW, CABINET MEMBER ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND COMMUNITY SERVICES

Councillor Blackshaw stated that Herefordshire Council was fully committed to the development of the Master’s House site in Ledbury; in preserving the heritage of the area whilst creating opportunities to improve the access to services. The Council had been fully involved in the development of the Business Plan.  This included consultation with local people and other bodies who were interested in making sure that the site was fully utilised.

The next stage was to confirm the detailed costs of the proposals and to secure the finances to deliver the proposals.  Applications for funding had been made to the Rural Regeneration Zone(RRZ) for a multi use facilities grant; other funding routes were being considered. Cabinet had recently agreed to utilise prudential borrowing to create additional capacity in the Council's capital programme.  The Master's House scheme was currently being considered alongside other projects for prioritisation in the capital programme.  As soon as funding had been identified, a timescale for the project would be established.

Questions from Mr Roger Steeds, Bringsty

School Closures

The recent decision by Herefordshire District Council that no secondary school will close during this council (i.e. before May 2011) whilst most welcome is insufficient.

Would the Council please make clear with some urgency that no school which dominates a geographical area, by being say at least 10 miles from the nearest similar establishment, should be considered for closure whilst there are clusters of 3 or more schools (Hereford has 6) grouped around its perimeter all within say 15 miles.

Such a sensible decision would remove the threat that Herefordshire District Council made by singling out Bromyard’s Queen Elizabeth Humanities College a threat which it has not withdrawn only masked.  It would also prevent the LEA staff wasting time considering unacceptable options if only during this Council.

ANSWER FROM COUNCILLOR JA HYDE, CABINET MEMBER CHILDREN’S SERVICES

Councillor Hyde reported that other than the technical procedures required to create an Academy, none ofthe 14 High Schools in Herefordshire would close in the life of this administration. The policy of any future Council could not be fixed by the current one. That was not to suggest that the policy would not change. The factors behind the current decision were likely to be relevant in the future; location of Bromyard and the High School in relation to other High Schools, and its catchment area, was likely to be as relevant in the future as it currently was.

Linton Tile Works

When will Herefordshire District Council take the required steps to ensure essential repairs to the poor public access to their Bromyard recycling centre?  This urgent work has been put off repeatedly with vague reference to a long-term development plan.

Does such a plan exist?  The Parish Council were told it did in July 2007.

Are Herefordshire District Council, Marsten Developments Ltd and Advantage West Midlands discussing the plans finances?

Are Herefordshire District Council seeking public monies to fill in, at great expense, a substantial hole which may well have significant ecological benefit and is unlikely to bring real benefits?

Have Herefordshire District considered the ethics of the situation with two of the more relevant landowners not being involved and where it appears that the council and the developer may be acting as one another’s agents?

Who is representing Herefordshire District Council in these talks?

How did Marsten Developments become involved?  Was it by Public Tender?  Do Marsten Developments have an option to buy Herefordshire District Council land?  Was this acquired by public tender?

Does the plan involve scrapping the existing “Travellers” park built at considerable expense with public money and using more public money to replace it with a smaller unit?

A group of Burley residents wrote in August 2007 to the Highways Department expressing their concerns over potential HGV access.  The local County Councillor was copied.  When can they expect a response?

Letter addressed to The Northern Planning Division, copy to The Chair, Northern Area Planning Committee, dated 19 August 2007, referred to in Mr Steed’s Question 9 above:

Re: Development of Linton Tile works

At the July meeting of the Parish Council it was announced that plans for the development of Linton Tile works had reached an advanced stage.  We, the undersigned Burley residents, urgently seek reassurance that there is no intention of allowing HGV’s access to the site from the narrow road over the single track railway bridge on Burley Lane coming from the A44.  We would ask for this reassurance to cover both the development and subsequent phases.

We look forward to hearing from you

Signed by 20 residents.

Answer from Councillor AJM Blackshaw, Cabinet Member for Economic Development and Community Services

Councillor Blackshaw reported that the Council had no right to repair a road that was not in its ownership.  The Council was well aware of the condition of the road and was seeking to persuade the owners to undertake the repairs (for which the Council would have to make some contribution).  The property department was seeking legal advice as to how the Council might enable the road to be repaired and upgraded as soon as possible.  His understanding was that the Council was exploring possible remedies under Civil Law but Councillor Blackshaw had been advised this was not necessarily straightforward.

In the meantime, he had visited the site and would be talking to the Council’s Property Department concerning whether temporary repairs could be undertaken to some of the potholes in the road to try and reduce some of the problems in the short-term.

Herefordshire Council was examining the potential to redevelop the land at the rear of the existing estate for employment purposes.  This site was zoned for employment use within the UDP and currently the constraints that would impact on development were being considered.  This included scoping out the costs associated with appropriate surveys and costs associated with any potential relocation of the travellers’ site and waste facilities.  Additionally, the Council was establishing the potential for alternative sites for both of these facilities.  This piece of work would allow the Council to establish some basic development costs and help identify impacts on land values prior to any work being undertaken.

Should the Council decide that the site should be redeveloped for employment use then the disposal of such an asset would be undertaken via a public tender procurement route that adhered to Council guidance.  Herefordshire Council had been approached by a developer interested in developing the site for employment purposes, they had been advised that the Council was required to undertake a tender process and that the Council would only consider an offer that came through this route. 

Should the Council decide to redevelop the site AWM might be approached in an attempt to secure funding for the servicing of the site.  This would be the subject of a funding application and would be dependant on gaining internal AWM approval for the project.

Councillor Blackshaw went on to reply to the additional question as to whether a plan existed for the work by saying that, as previously mentioned, a scoping process was underway for the facilities. Any redeveloped site that gained access via the existing estate would require the involvement and agreement of all affected parties, especially the owners of the existing access route.  Should the Council decide that the site should be redeveloped for employment use then the disposal of such an asset would be undertaken via a public tender procurement route that adhered to Council guidance. The Economic Regeneration team were currently leading on the project in terms of establishing costs and timescales and were working closely with colleagues in the Property Services section. 

The Council's Travellers' Policy had been to reduce the size of most of its sites.  This policy was based around making the sites easier to manage and experience had shown that larger sites were more expensive and difficult to manage.  Bromyard Travellers' site did require considerable investment as it had been badly vandalised a number of years ago.  The Council had sought funding through a Central Government grant scheme.  To date grant applications had been unsuccessful and the Council was continuing to seek ways of funding a refurbishment and reduction in size of the site.

Whilst there had been informal discussions regarding potential redevelopment of the Linton Tile Works these had not, as yet, been formally submitted to the Council for consideration.  Should any formal proposals for this site come forward in the future, the Highways and Transportation Service would consider in detail the likely traffic implications of any development, including in relation to HGV movements, and seek to minimise any adverse impact on the local road network.