Upton Bishop Parish Council

The Parish Council meets at 7.30pm in the Millennium Hall on the first Monday of every month (except when this is a Bank Holiday when the Council usually meets on the following Tuesday).

The purpose of the Parish Council is to use the precept raised via Council Tax to try to ensure that everyday problems encountered in the village are looked into and hopefully resolved. It also undertakes projects in the village that will improve facilities and enhance the local community.

There are 8 Councillors, the Clerk, a Lengthsman and a Footpaths Officer.

Meetings are regularly attended by the local Community Support Officers who give regular updates on local policing issues.

Parishioners are welcome to attend meetings either to listen to what is being discussed or to bring matters to the attention of the Council.

The Clerk can be contacted in the following ways:

By post:

Mrs Sarah Lawrence

2 The Pastures

Upton Bishop

Ross-on-Wye

HR9 7UU

By Phone: 01989 780450

By e-mail: ubpcclerk@yahoo.co.uk

The Herefordshire County Councillor is Barry Durkin who represents Old Gore Ward. Barry can be contacted by e-mail: bdurkin@herefordshire.gov.uk or by phone: 07900 554 083

He writes a monthly report for the Parish Council. The latest is printed here.

Herefordshire Councillor’s Report

Old Gore Ward

March 2011

Broadband Update -The Herefordshire Broadband Strategy published on 7 February shows that we really are serious. It puts hard facts by way of objectives into what has previously been inspirational. We have budgeted £1 million of capital spend for Broadband. Tenders for the project already announced in the south of the County will go out soon. The Government’s Broadband Delivery UK is funding this £5 million pilot which covers neighbouring parts of Gloucestershire and Powys too. The key will be to embed as much fibre optic as possible via underground or overhead lines and use satellite to complement in the more difficult parts of the County. The full 8-page strategy is at www.herefordshire.gov.uk/broadband

Its hard objectives are:

To work with private sector providers for all homes and premises to have affordable access to broadband at speeds of 4Mbps.
By 2015: 90% of homes and all business premises having the opportunity to connect to a super fast broadband service offering at least 40Mbps download speed and 10Mbps upload speed.

By 2020: 50% of homes and businesses should have the opportunity to access 100Mbps download speed with a choice of upload speeds.

This is good news – especially the impetus to eliminate “notspots” by the end of next year.

Highways - Winter not only came early but also with some of the lowest temperatures since 1982. Amey with their 15 gritters did their best to keep priority routes open and I have passed on many compliments. For the second year running sub-contracted snow ploughs were used. Potholes will again be a major problem – please report them by e mail to streets@herefordshire.gov.uk or ring 01432 261800 hting. At the time of writing the cost of damage to the roads is around £2 million, and the winter gritting budget is overspent by £1.5 million. We have £10 million budgeted for Highways work in 2011/12. There will be no cuts in the Lengthsman or Parish Path schemes.

Interesting Statistic: 1 HGV equates to 40,000 cars’ worth of road wear.

Localism Bill - The Localism bill aims to shift power from central government back into the hands of individuals, communities and councils. The bill provides greater recognition of the role of local (community, neighbourhood, parish, village and town) councils along with a range of new powers. The bill is split across five core themes of community empowerment; decentralisation and strengthening local democracy; reform of the planning system; social housing reform. Although still undergoing its passage through parliament there will probably be amendments in the final Bill; however, currently the Bill proposing the following radical shifts of power from the centralised state to local communities and thus to every citizen:

Key points of the Localism Bill include:

a new power for local people to approve or veto excessive council tax rises through a local referendum, but with the intention that the majority of local councils will fall below the level set by the secretary of state;
a right for local councils – as well as voluntary and community groups, social enterprises and local authority employees delivering a service – to challenge a local authority, by expressing an interest in running any service for which they are responsible;
the chance for communities to develop a bid and raise the capital to buy a local community asset when it comes on the open market;
measures to give people, councillors and councils the power to instigate a local referendum on any local issue;
a new general power of competence to provide local authorities – including certain local councils – to enable them to do anything apart from that which is specifically prohibited;
freeing up councillors to be able to campaign, to express views on issues and to vote on those matters, without fear of being unjustly accused of having a closed mind on a particular issue;
the abolition of the Standards Board regime and a new duty on local authorities to promote and maintain high standards of conduct, including provision for the adoption of a voluntary code of conduct;
changes to the Community Infrastructure Levy including provisions requiring some of these funds to be passed to neighbourhoods where the development has taken place;
a new right for local councils to shape their local areas through neighbourhood plans which will enable communities to permit development – in full or in outline – without the need for planning applications;
the power for communities to take forward development in their area without the need to apply for planning permission, subject to meeting certain safeguards and securing 50 per cent support of the community through a referendum.

This means that there is the potential that your local Authority will be working more closely with your parish council. But remember there will probably be amendments in the final Bill and may not contain all the previous bullet points, or they may be amended.

Barry Durkin, Sleepy Hollow, Woolhope, Herefordshire, HR1 4QU.

Tel/Fax 01432 860890 E mail: bdurkin@herefordshire.gov.uk