We live in England not North Korea

IN his attempt to do a bit of political mischief-making, Cllr Peter McCaull maligns others and makes inaccurate and misleading statements on the Leominster out-of-town superstores issue (Readers’ Times, May 22).

The bulky planning files of the two schemes do not contain a shred of evidence that they would contribute to the wellbeing of the town centre. On the contrary, the schemes are diversionary.

Retail reports indicate they can only succeed at the expense of existing supermarkets and shops.

What is not in question is that the town centre would haemorrhage revenue.

Reduced food shopping in town centre shops results in loss of footfall affecting all businesses. Thus begins a spiral of decline – boarded-up, graffiti-covered shops and decaying buildings. Visitors stay away and so does tourism revenue.

Cllr McCaull is in error when he repeats jobs propaganda. Research shows major out-of-town retail developments result in a net loss of jobs due to closure and shrinkage of town centre businesses, suppliers and services.

Powerful interests are now telling Leominster what it needs. Sadly, Cllr McCaull has become a prominent cheerleader for one of the proposed developments. He needs reminding he is out on a limb and out of step with the majority of his council colleagues of all stripes.

All Joe Public can do is write letters for or against.

It’s an established part of our democratic process.

Forming campaign groups is also legitimate – this is England, not North Korea.

Cllr McCaull please note.

PETE BLENCH Luston

Decision on units stinks

“IF you’re not into farmyard smells, don’t live in the country,”(Hereford Times, May 22) Cllr Liz Chave clearly does not know the difference between the sporadic smell of farmyards and the continuous stench that is vented from a factory of 250,000 birds living in a confined space. The residents of Knapton do not have a choice; they already live there and the prevailing wind will carry that stench and noise the short distance to their houses, despite what planning regulations say.

Honeylake Brook regularly floods and, with extreme weather conditions ever more likely, offscourings, at least, will enter it.

Who, involved in this project and the decision, will pay compensation for inflicting a devaluation of property and living conditions?

Garnstone Farms are large enough to have sited the six units in a remote position but the easy economic decision has been taken in preference to one with more thought, especially for the community.

ROD GARVEY Bush Bank, Canon Pyon

On side with Titchmarsh

IT would appear that, for once, Herefordshire Council is doing the right thing, albeit by default.

Alan Titchmarsh, on behalf of Plantlife, has requested all councils not to mow their verges between March and August; in Ireland it is already illegal to do so.

I hope that the council continues to give nature a chance while ensuring a more beautiful and healthy environment for us all.

JONQUIL PHELAN Life Member, Herefordshire Nature Trust

TKMaxx as new library?

NOW that the Old Market has opened and is proving a success, many buildings in the city centre have become vacant.

The council has a prime opportunity here to show its commitment to the city and its people.

The former TKMaxx site could become a new larger and modern city library.

The current library could become an expanded museum and new art gallery.

I await any response from the council!

JOSEPH BAYLEY Holmfirth Close, Hereford

My dog has also been ill

I HAVE been reading about dogs falling ill in the South Wye (Hereford Times, May 29).

I live in Yazor Road area and my dog has had the same symptoms. Luckily it looks like he has now recovered.

DAVE WILLIAMS Yazor Road, Hereford

Lane exit is now a hazard

WHY can’t the council trim the roadside verges?

Exiting Tump Lane from Wormelow onto the A49 is dangerous.

Many cars have to take a chance and try not to get hit due to the lack of visibility at the junction.

STUART DANIELS Tump Lane, Much Birch

Not time to talk elections

I WAS very saddened to see comments in the Hereford Times on May 29 from UKIP MEP Jim Carver and his enthusiasm to contest council by-elections in Ledbury and Leominster.

Cllr Roger Hunt and Cllr Peter Watts were stalwarts of the local community and much admired and respected by many, so to hear Mr Carver making these comments when we only said goodbye to our colleagues this week is shameful.

No elections have yet been called as it would be wrong to contemplate such a thing at this time.

Please keep your cheap, political, point scoring to yourself Mr Carver and please have some respect.

CLLR ANDREW ATKINSON Ross-on-Wye East Ward, Herefordshire Council

Hospital goes extra mile

THE NHS has had a lot of bad publicity of late but I would like it brought to everyone’s attention the excellent treatment a friend of mine received on a recent weekend at the Hereford A&E department.

Not only did he get good attention to detail but he also got a follow-up telephone call the next day to check that he was OK.

The family doctor also got a call telling him the X-ray and blood test results etc.

This is what I call going the extra mile.

If all hospitals were this good, there could never be any complaints. The staff are a great example to all other hospitals.

Well done to them all.

CAROLE GLYNN Nottingham

Probe time

IT was with dismay that I read that Herefordshire Council has resorted to increasing the chargeable hours for parking and are selling picnic sites.

I think the council royally screwed up the handling of the Edgar Street Grid and its related finances and are now struggling to provide the most basic services required.

To be in such a sorry state that the council can no longer afford to cut the grass resulting in impaired visibility for drivers and some pretty scary junctions, means there needs to be an investigation so that we can be sure that nothing of the like can ever occur again and the citizens of Herefordshire can receive the explanation we deserve.

ELIZABETH PERRY Winnal Allensmore

Road chaos

TWO new sets of traffic lights and sequences changed on others. All this adds up to traffic chaos and Hereford at a standstill.

When are the highly paid planners going to get things right? Can they please spend a couple of hours at Edgar Street roundabout and take note of the chaos caused by the lights in Newmarket Street?

Then they can go to Edgar Street and see what chaos the lights at Blackfriars Street have caused.

TY SYMONDS Beaufort Avenue, Hereford

Seeing much wider picture on roads

YOUR article last week suggested that because I have raised a concern about the A417 in Gloucestershire, I was somehow ignoring traffic problems in Hereford.

In fact I have been deeply engaged in trying to improve the city and its traffic congestion for years.

The chaos caused by the recent congestion, and by the earlier road closure at Holme Lacy, highlights exactly why we need an Eastern Link Road and a second river crossing – something I have been campaigning for since before 2010.

Local people are also rightly concerned about potholes. In Parliament I have vigorously pressed for more cash to repair Herefordshire’s roads. Last year the Government made available an extra £140 million for potholes, of which Herefordshire received £3.5 million. This year the Chancellor has announced a new £200m Pothole Challenge Fund specifically aimed at rural areas.

As for Birdlip, the fact is that many of my constituents rely on this road in order to get to work, to run their businesses and to see their families. The extremely positive local response to my survey reflected this.

I am fighting 24/7 for Herefordians on local and national issues, and it’s right to do so on regional matters as well.

JESSE NORMAN MP for Hereford & South Herefordshire

MP right to raise Birdlip

THAT people should regard Jesse Norman as being ‘out of touch’ for emailing his constituents seeking support for a solution to the long-term traffic problem at Birdlip and the Air Balloon roundabout, can only be motivated by an access of petty politicking.

To be sure, there are some who have never left Herefordshire (and who can blame them?) who are understandably concerned with the ‘regular gridlock’ and deplorable state of the roads in and around Hereford, but there are many who live in the county who need to travel east and south-east via the unavoidable pinch point of Birdlip which has made journey times so hard to predict in either direction.

Anyone coming from the southeast with the idea of setting up a business in Ross or Hereford could easily find themselves beleaguered in traffic at this notorious junction and be put off in favour of a location with better access.

Jesse’s initiative should be supported by all those who can see beyond the county boundary.

ROBIN SYMONDS Hentland, Ross-on-Wye

Such a small price to pay

ALTHOUGH we all approve of the council’s policy of cutting its coat according to its resources, our reaction to the smaller details can be almost venomous.

A few years ago there was a big hoo-hah over how many black sacks we should all be given. Now it is the length of the grass.

Surely, it is better to let the grass grow and be able to retain Herefordshire’s services to old people and children, and keep the libraries open.

The verges around my house are a mass of wild flowers this year, and I hope that it will be some time before they are cut.

Perhaps a little common sense is called for – cut the open spaces where children play, but leave the verges.

What’s wrong with a few buttercups and daisies?

JM HARRISON Brilley

Trust may regret loss

IT IS with considerable regret and disquiet that I note that Derek Smith, acting chief executive, has recently left the Wye Valley NHS Trust.

I have worked for many years in and out of the NHS in England and Wales and found Mr Smith to be a chief executive whose care of patients and staff, whose considerable insight into problems and speed of action when needed is totally remarkable.

That he should be lost to the Trust is a disaster and I fear those responsible will rue the day he left.

Sadly, so will the patients of Hereford and the surrounding area.

SUSAN CAMPBELL The Buckholt, Monmouth

Honour will win through

YOUR editorials, usually so apt, are today (May 29) so wrong. Independent councillors are proud of their independence. They are never going to compromise their principles and join another party!

Imagine councillors trying to explain to their voters that they are no longer independent because they have decided to become ‘Independent Conservatives’. They would consider that to be an inexcusable breach of trust.

I resigned from a lifetime’s membership of the Liberal Party when Mr Clegg invented a Liberal Conservative party. Had I still been chairman of the council, I would have resigned my seat to stand again at the resulting by- election.

To have done otherwise would have been dishonest and undemocratic. Voters should not be tricked into supporting a party which they have just voted against.

You are also implying that independents would deliberately obstruct the rights of the majority of city voters to play a leading part in rescuing Hereford city from 15 years of neglect and mismanagement. I believe your prophecy to be wrong and that independent councillors are democrats and men and women of honour who would not be bribed with a few ‘Cabinet’ seats into undermining democracy, not to mention their own principles.

LANCE MARSHALL Whitecross Road, Hereford

What is this whistling?

MANY of the residents of Hereford will have noticed a most irritating whistling noise in the vicinity of Morrisons and KFC on Commercial Road.

Here in the Stonebow Unit we have a wonderful garden, a haven for wildlife and a place where we can rest and recuperate. The tranquillity is marred by the whistling, almost continuous, occasionally a pulsing sound. It is rarely turned off.

Do any of your readers know where this noise is coming from? Surely there must be ways of dealing with this noise pollution?

Since enforcement action can be taken in the case of loud music etc, why not for this?

SANDRA STRICKLAND Jenny Lind Ward, Stonebow Unit, Hereford

Same exacting standards on older wards

DOROTHY Hall raises some important points in her letter to the Hereford Times (Readers’ Times, May 22).

She rightly points out that staff on Leadon Ward at Hereford County Hospital are “dedicated, intelligent and hardworking” and describes the care she received as “good”.

We can sympathise, to a degree, with her comments regarding the appearance of the ward – it is one of the old hutted wards at the hospital.

However, we can assure her that the same exacting standards of care that we expect and provide in the new part of the hospital, are provided in these older wards.

Indeed, this is down to the professionalism of our excellent staff members who are committed to providing the quality of care we’d want for ourselves, our family and our friends.

Procedures to reduce the risk of infection are as tight here as they are in any other ward, and while the acoustics of the ward are not great, we’re doing what we can to keep noise to a minimum – for example, by introducing bins with soft-closing lids.

We’re pleased that Dorothy could say her treatment was “good” – this is a credit to the nursing staff on the ward.

We’re continually striving to improve people’s experiences in hospital.

MICHELLE CLARKE Director of Nursing and Quality, Wye Valley NHS Trust, Hereford County Hospital

Reunions to continue

MANY thanks to all those who attended the reunion of former pupils at Mordiford School.

Special thanks go to the school choir and Mordiford community choir for their entertainment in Holy Rood Church. It would be fair to say we have some stars in the making.

For anyone who missed the reunion, there will be a meeting (date/time to be decided). It is hoped that reunions will be a yearly event subject to interest from former pupils and if any would like to attend the meeting please email me at charles.davies250@btinternet.com or phone on 01432 861095 for those who wish to contact me via mail my address is Caplor Farm, Fownhope, Hereford HR1 4PT.

CHARLES DAVIES Fownhope