Medical staff deserve more

I RECENTLY spent five days in Leadon Ward in Hereford County Hospital.

The medical treatment was good, but the dedicated, intelligent and hardworking staff deserve better conditions. As do the patients.

Leadon Ward is a dilapidated shed.

How can medical staff be expected to treat patients properly in conditions such as these?

How can patients get well in such surroundings?

What about infections?

The ceiling in the corridor leading to the ward has an extremely rundown appearance.

The acoustics are bad, creating unbelievable noise levels reminiscent of a factory floor.

Trolleys sound like aircraft approaching; patients and staff have to shout to be heard over the noise.

Creaking doors bang constantly, metal waste bins crash like cymbals, and the beeping from drip machines goes on for hours. No one can be expected to rest, let alone really recover in such conditions.

DOROTHY HALL Almeley, Herefordshire

Grass left far too long

I HAVE recently complained to Herefordshire Council about the length of the grass on the Castle Green and other local parks. They replied to me saying the grass will only be cut three times a year, a reduction from seven times previously.

I know times are hard, and the council is hard up, but cutting the grass only three times a year at places such as the Castle Green is outrageous.

The grass and weeds on the bank surrounding the green are about a metre long in places, and in such a tourist area, it is just not acceptable.

Can the council make exceptions in areas such as the Castle Green and the Bishops Meadow?

BOB KNIGHT Mill Street Hereford

There’s need for choice

I HAVE read with interest the articles and letters in the Hereford Times over the past few months regarding the proposals for a new supermarket in Leominster.

The rejection of the Dales and Morbaine proposals in January was described by the group the Friends of Leominster as a “victory for the small man” (Group’s Joy in Shop Defeat, Hereford Times, January 16).

However, I believe the responses we have seen in Readers’ Times on the subject show that there are plenty of Leominster residents who would disagree with this verdict.

I supported the original Morbaine scheme and support the revised application that will shortly be considered by Herefordshire Council.

I realise some of those who have written to this paper in support of a supermarket preferred by the Dales scheme.

But we agree that the Leominster residents deserve real choice in where to do their grocery shopping.

They also need new job opportunities, particularly our young people.

Opponents of a new store say they want these things too, but insist that they must happen in the town centre, despite there being no sites available.

They say there is little chance people would head into town after shopping in the new supermarket, but even if only five per cent did so, that would still represent a huge increase in footfall for the town centre shops they claim to be protecting.

And some of the developer’s financial contribution could be used to fund the return of free parking at Etnam Street car park, another win for our town centre traders.

I think this is particularly misleading for the Friends of Leominster to present itself in this debate as an informal residents’ group.

Joan Thwaites, who was quoted in this paper on December 19 2013, and Pete Blench, quoted on January 16, are both prominent members of Herefordshire Green Party. Is that just a coincidence?

Furthermore, I don’t understand how the Friends of Leominster can possibly claim to represent “the small man” when it holds no public meetings, has no website, no telephone number, and lists its address as c/o Leominster Tourist Information Centre. Just how big is this group really?

We need to encourage people who live and work in Leominster to spend their hard earned money in Leominster, and thereby create more jobs for local people, our children and grandchildren.

With local demand for a new supermarket and for new jobs, I believe that groups like the Friends of Leominster are working against the real interests of our 12,000 residents, despite their claims to the contrary.

CLLR PETER McCAULL Herefordshire Independent

Road worse than ever

ABOUT three weeks ago, when driving through Eardisland, I noticed workmen repairing the road.

Today I drove through Eardisland again and the road is worse than ever.

Can someone in Herefordshire Council please explain:

a) Are the men who repair our roads qualified in any way?

b) Are they trained in road repairs?

c) Is their worked checked by a supervisor after completion?

d) How long are repairs supposed to last?

On face value, the work done in Eardisland was a complete waste of time and taxpayers’ money.

GRAHAM CARPENTER Oldfields Close, Leominster

Squandered on potholes

ARE Ross taxpayers being taken for a ride with cost of pothole repair? The council cannot afford to cut the grass but can afford to send two men to mark potholes for repair, followed by an open back lorry with two men followed by a further large tipper lorry and three men to fill in just four potholes over a four week period and leave many others in very close proximity untreated, presumably waiting for the next visit from another lorry and team of workers.

When I think of the cost of labour and vehicles used in repairing just four potholes in Wilton I come to the conclusion that Herefordshire Council seems to have no control.

No wonder funds can’t be found to keep the grass cut regularly in Ross and throughout the county, money is being squandered on repair of potholes.

HAYDN DIX Wilton Lane, Wilton

Fire station questions

RE: Consultation on proposed new fire station: An architect’s plan was, essentially, all there was to read at the open evening to explain the proposed move to the former Bath Street Working Boys’ Home site within the conservation area.

This isn’t public consultation. Written answers were not available to these questions, which any reasonable citizen surely has a right to know.

* Which other sites were considered in the sequential test of alternatives?

* Why did these sites fail to be suitable?

* Why was this proposal not put into the Core Strategy proposals?

* What are the failings of the present fire station and what are the running costs?

* What is the cost of the new station and running costs?

* Has retaining one or two of the principal existing buildings and building around them been considered?

* Why have plans for a joint police/fire service facility been abandoned?

Answers to the above would make it so much easier for us all to understand the reasoning behind, what appears to us, a flagrant overriding of a designated conservation area. Our history is an important part of our lives, there are several other places where this 21st century proposal could be built.

JOHN BOTHAMLEY, chairman, Hereford Civic Society, St Weonards, Herefordshire HR2 8QF

A very taxing question

MY income tax supports 60 million citizens, paying for defence, capital expenditure, salaries of millions of civil servants, MPs, lords, quangos, and everything else needed to run a country.

My council tax supports180,000 citizens, salaries of a few thousand civil servants and everything else needed to run a county.

Why do I pay more council tax than income tax?

W FREARY Station Road, Credenhill.