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Petition Tag - herefordshire council
1. Chris Bull Take A Pay Cut Now 
In 2008 when Chris Bull became Chief Executive of Herefordshire Council, he promised competent Local Government. This has not happened. Services for the elderly and for young people have deteriorated significantly, according to independent inspections.
Despite unprecedented use of expensive Consultants, the Council’s big, so-called Transformation Projects have failed miserably to accrue the benefits promised, and the lessons of the Crookall Report, which highlighted the fact that ICT contracts were out of control, have not been learned. Small schools are being closed, together with much-needed Tourism and Youth Services.
When the Hereford Times reported that the Chief Executive earns £200,000 a year there was outrage from the general public and a record number of comments posted on the newspaper’s website:
http://www.herefordtimes.com/news/8249261.Council_boss_earns_more_than_PM/
In Herefordshire, this is all Chris Bull is known for: being paid £200,000 a year, having an army of Personal Assistants, a desk that cost £4,000, and running up massive legal fees at Taxpayers' expense for cases he loses.
Under him, there are around 120 Managers who get over £50,000 a year in their pay packets. Most of the Top Management team are Consultants earning up to £1,000 a day. Yet this is a small Council in a rural area.
If paid by Results he should graciously accept a material pay cut now. Our Petition calls for Herefordshire Council to debate whether their Chief Executive deserves his pay, when services are in decline and he is making many hundreds of Council employees redundant.
The Retail Quarter & the related link road on the Edgar Street Grid development are likely to do untold damage to Hereford’s historic city centre and many existing businesses. We already have too many empty shops with many locally owned retailers struggling to survive.
What are we campaigning for?
We are calling on Herefordshire Council & ESG Ltd to suspend the current proposals for retail development on the cattle market and the related link road.
Why are we campaigning now?
Herefordshire Council has just agreed to sign a development agreement with ESG Ltd and Stanhope (the developers of the retail quarter) to deliver the retail quarter on a 250 year lease. We believe that whatever the original merits of the scheme, the recent credit crunch and the fundamental changes in retail no longer make the scheme desirable or viable.
Is there anything good about the ESG development?
Yes, the proposals for affordable housing, leisure development, the university, and many other aspects of the project could bring prosperity to Hereford, but we believe any retail development should be concentrated in the historic core of our city centre. We want a fully integrated city centre with the big shops helping to support all the little shops which bring vibrancy and interest to High Town.
Is there enough space in Hereford’s historic centre?
Yes, redevelopment of the Maylord Shopping Centre, Chadds department store’s old site and the area behind the Green Dragon would easily provide enough large units to bring these much needed “anchor” stores into our city centre.
What about the link road?
We believe the new link road could cause traffic chaos in key areas in the city and it runs through the premises of lots of locally owned businesses representing hundreds of city jobs. Forcing them to relocate puts these jobs in jeopardy. If the retail development was earmarked for our historic city centre, there would be no need to “downgrade” the inner ring road leaving all of these successful businesses alone.
SIGN THE PETITION NOW!
3. Herefordshire Council should supply a bigger college bus
Since the beginning of the new college term (11th September 2006) there is a distinct lack of seats on the bus number 802 that runs from Leintwardine, via Mortimers Cross, Kingsland, Canon Pyon to Hereford.
This has resulted in a number of students being refused on the bus as it is already full, by the time it gets to Kingsland. There are still another 20 students to be picked up from Canon Pyon.
The result of this is that students are forced to take an earlier or later bus, resulting in arrival at college before it is open or arriving late.
