Wrong move

IT’S TIME that councillors, like Polly Andrews, (quoted in Hereford Times, ‘Christmas Chaos’, November 3) stopped claiming that building a ‘bypass’ around Hereford by 2027 will ease traffic congestion in the city, especially as its population is forecast to rise. 
Heavy goods vehicles passing through town make up a tiny proportion of all traffic; moving them on to a ‘bypass’ will make little difference. 
It’s time Herefordshire Council stopped claiming that the Southern Link Road is the first phase in a ‘bypass’. 
It is in fact a ‘stand alone’ scheme which contains, at its heart, Active Travel Measures (ATMs) designed to get people walking, cycling and using public transport.
These will alleviate congestion, and improve public health outcomes. 
No-one on the council is denying that these ATMs are integral to the scheme, and yet their funding is looking fragile. 
Some of the council’s ATM budget allocation has already been diverted to support the road building costs. 
How much more might be diverted, at the expense of these ATMs? 
The government’s contribution to the road is capped at £27.8m and the council is determined to build it first, even if ‘local funding’ will have to cover any cost over-runs. 
VICTORIA WEGG-PROSSER
Breinton
Hereford


Homes boost
YOU report in the Hereford Times of November 10 on another large development plan for 80 houses in Kings Acre, to add to the proposed 1,200 new homes on church commission land. 
This is a welcome boost to Hereford as a city, providing new homes for those who wish to live in this beautiful city.  
The existing developments off the Roman Road at Holmer have already provided much needed housing, and population growth, for the city.
However there are potential problems; with a current population of 58,896 (Herefordshire total is 188,000), 1,290 houses  could add 3,000-5,000 people to the city, a potential rise of 10 per cent, plus a potential increase of around 2,500 cars.
The size of this growth makes the provision of infrastructure – schools, shops, hospitals, and especially roads all the more important.
I trust therefore that the all-important Hereford ring road will go ahead rapidly, and that the developers will be asked to contribute a substantial amount towards its construction
KENNETH WILLIAMS
East St
Pembridge


Anger at logo 
COUNCILLOR Harlow defends the change of Herefordshire Council logo on the grounds that digital communications must be updated; and it didn’t cost very much (Letters October 20 – responding to Mr Cock’s protest at this waste of cash and effort). 
The new logo with a black bull is more of a red rag to some of us, whereas there was nothing wrong with the apple. 
Does our distinctive Hereford bull – of international significance – mean nothing to him? 
Good communication means paying attention to detail. 
It depends on trying to understand reactions. 
Above all, there should be something worth saying.
When representatives trivialise things I care about, brushing aside any cost, I must object. 
I would like Cllr Harlow to understand why. 
His response distresses me.
BARBARA FERRIS
Wits End
Dinedor


Nuclear blow
ON OCTOBER 27, the United Nations General Assembly’s First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) adopted a resolution to begin negotiations in 2017 on a treaty outlawing nuclear weapons.
As the UK has always professed itself to be in favour of multilateral negotiations to ban nuclear weapons, it is most disappointing that it not only voted against the resolution but tried to persuade others to do likewise.
Supporting it would have gone some way to honouring our commitments under Article 6 of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, made more than 40 years ago, to “pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament”.
JENNY MAXWELL
Walford
Leintwardine


Big betrayal
I REFER to the article by Rebecca Cain, Hereford Times, Oct 27 2016 entitled Shock in Store for Many Women.
While I am delighted to see that the HT has addressed this issue the “shock in store” for ladies born in the 1950s is rather belated! 
The earthquake hit more than five years ago for many of us ladies when we were told, in our late 50s, that we would be denied our pensions at 60. 
What we are currently experiencing is the after-shock which has reverberated for at least three years and will go on for another three yet, making us £35,000 poorer and struggling to find or keep employment to get us to retirement, in 2019 in my case. 
How we have been treated is a breach of contract, forget PPI this is our own government reneging on us and the response when I wrote to David Cameron more than years ago was, in essence, we were living too long. 
Well, who encouraged that with all the expensive health campaigns. 
We have been treated despicably – we have been ignored for five years. 
Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) is trying – come on Mrs May – please listen!!!!
JANE TAYLOR
Little Hereford St
Bromyard


Parking woe
I LIVE in a street currently under review for parking permits. 
A few months ago we had a letter from our councillor, who had been approached by two residents. 
This letter asked if we would be interested in permit parking. 
It required a simple yes or no. 
It stated that there were advantages and disadvantages but didn’t say what they were. 
Now we have a questionnaire from Balfour Beatty, again with no information. 
How can people make an informed decision ?
If you can’t park within 10 metres of a junction, we lose four spaces. 
There are at least 10 driveways in the street, including my own. 
I park over the driveway as no-one else can, and it saves taking a space elsewhere. 
Residents assume they will still be able to. No you won’t!
That’s another 10 spaces lost, and 10 more cars fighting for a permitted space. 
When the turning place at the end of the road is double yellow lines a few more places will go. 
We will lose 20 spaces because a few people park here to go to work, and we will have to pay for it!
SUSAN POWELL
Foley Street
Hereford


Take action
IT IS A credit to the hard work and dedication of the doctors and nurses and to the leadership of the CEO, Richard Beeken, that Wye Valley NHS Trust has been taken out of ‘special measures’. 
Having had three major inspections in two years, Hereford County Hospital has now been rated as ‘requires improvement’ by the CQC. 
However the responsiveness to patients needs is still rated as ‘inadequate’ because of delays in A&E, waits for in-patient beds, cancelled operations and patients in the wrong bed for their diagnoses, all symptoms of lack of capacity of a hospital that was, from the outset, too small for the population it serves.
Sixteen years ago, the hospital consultants of the day warned of this in letters to the British Medical Journal, to their local MPs and even to the prime minister, but all went unheeded. 
No amount of buddying up to the hospital’s new partner, the South Warwickshire Foundation Trust will improve this situation until the nettle is grasped and the 30-40 new beds needed, and the staff to run them, are funded.
DR MICHAEL J HALL
Hafod Road
Hereford


Badgers suffer
PICTORIAL and horrific evidence that badgers do indeed suffer when TB is left within the wildlife reservoir – as it is in large parts of the UK. 
The RSPCA – for reasons one finds hard to understand – play down the effects of TB in badgers. 
This post mortem was carried out by Defra veterinary personnel: the lesions were ripe and the liquid is pus, which gushed out as they cut. 
This is what happens to a tuberculosis lesion.
Surely it is ironic that those who attempt to exonerate badgers of being the reservoir of TB infection for cattle show such little concern for the suffering those badgers with TB undergo? 
The usual route for the TB bacilli to enter the body is either by inhalation or by ingestion (they can enter through open wounds and bites). 
Either way, the bacilli pass through the throat before going down the trachea to the lungs and/or down the oesophagus to the intestinal tract. 
The body’s first line of defence after a challenge from TB is the lymph glands, which become inflamed and then develop abscesses – lesions. 
Lymph glands are scattered throughout the body. There are three pairs of glands in the throat, five groups in the chest and many hundreds protecting the intestinal tract. Lesions in the chest glands can therefore be the result of either inhalation or ingestion of the bacilli. 
After a period of time, months or even years, shorter if the challenge was very high, then the bacilli will break out from the gland(s) into the blood stream to settle in various organs, particularly those with a filter system - the lungs, liver and kidneys. 
Here the body attempts to isolate the infection by walling it off to from other abscesses. It is at this stage that the animal begins to suffer and becomes infectious to others. 
Except in an outbreak of many months or even years duration, when some cattle will be ill and have multiple lesions, the majority (90 per cent-plus%+) of reactor cattle will have no lesions at when post-mortemed. 
This is because, although the animal has been challenged, there has been insufficient time for them to develop. 
Lesions, when found are mainly in the glands of the throat and/or lungs, with a few in the intestinal ones.
EDMUND MARRIAGE
CEO - British Wildlife Management
Leominster


Hospice hunt 
ST MICHAEL’S Hospice, with its long established history of high quality end-of-life care and education, has recently completed its new and refurbished buildings. 
A rare and exciting opportunity has arisen for someone to join the board of trustees, as we work to secure the future and expand our services. 
This is a voluntary but vital position.
We are specifically looking for trustees with present or recent experience of clinical care and/or education in a health care setting.
If you are prepared to share your skills, knowledge, experience and time to help the charity, help us develop and deliver our strategy and contribute to achieving our mission, we would like to talk to you. There are eight board meetings a year and you will also be a member of the care and clinical governance board sub-committee. If you are interested in applying for a trustee position, please contact Alister Walshe (e-mail chairman@st-michaels-hospice.org.uk) or send your curriculum vitae (CV) and a covering letter giving details of your suitability for the post to Mr Walshe as soon as possible. 
We look forward to hearing from you.
PAUL BROOME
Communications Officer
St Michael’s Hospice


I’m egg-static!
HOW common are double-yolked eggs? 
In the course of six days I broke an egg into the poacher and it had a double yolk. I felt rather pleased. 
Two days later I broke four eggs into a bowl and had seven yolks. 
Then two days later again, when I was making a cake, four eggs yielded six yolks. 
I suppose there is a first time for everything but this was rather exciting.  
These were supermarket eggs, Sainsbury’s large, free range.
MARY ERNEST
St Charles Court
Hereford


Fireworks fun
I WENT to the Pembridge Firework Display on Saturday, November 5 and was impressed by the organisation and the event itself. 
There was no entry charge and the bar and food was reasonably priced, both run by local businesses, The Red Lion and Townsend Touring and Camping Park Butchery. 
I have no axe to grind except as an appreciative spectator who came from Leominster for the event.
ROBERT WEST
Leominster


Thanks a lot!
I WISH to thank the Hereford Times for tickets to the 40th anniversary fireworks display at the Hereford Racecourse which I had won in a recent competition. 
Sunshine radio was fantastic in providing entertainment.
And, to all the organisers and volunteers, you were amazing, the fireworks display was amazing, a good time was had by all. 
Thank you.
BELINDA OLSEN
Putson
Hereford