Sarah Keefe

Curry and Games Night, 5th October

Join us for a CURRY AND GAMES NIGHT at the Bridge Sollars Community Centre at 7.30pm on Friday October 5th.  Tickets are £7-50 in aid of Bishopstone church – for further information or tickets contact Hazel tel. 01981 590627.

Reminder: The autumn programme of the LOCAL HISTORY EVENING starts on Thursday September 27th with “Opening the Parish Chest” as Richard Wade from Hereford Archive and Research Centre tells us about the many different kinds of documents found in our parish churches and what they reveal about life in our villages over the centuries.

The illustrated talk is at the New Bridge Community Centre at 7.30pm, admission £2 to include coffee and biscuits. Everyone welcome.

Film nights – 6th October, The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society

Film Nights at Bridge Sollars Community Centre returns this Autumn with the following films:

  • 6th October :- The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society
  • 3rd November :- Finding your Feet
  • 1st December:- The Greatest Showman

Doors open at 7.00pm and film starts 7.15pm. £5 to include draw and light refreshments. We look forward to seeing you then.

Stop that thief!

Burglary of sheds and outbuilding is still one of the main concerns amongst the rural community. Although the incidents remain low, it is still a major worry by people living in remote locations.

West Mercia’s priority is to keep you and your property safe from harm and theft, we are therefore providing advice on how the community can help themselves from becoming victims of crime. West Mercia Police have recently introduced a scheme called “Stop That Thief” aimed at helping businesses and farms from becoming victims of crime.

Working in partnership with the National Farmers Union (NFU) through the local Safer Neighbourhood teams can add another layer of security to your home, farm or other business where vulnerabilities are identified during a series of specific assessments. These start with a visit from your local officer and if appropriate a referral to Stop That Thief! specialist who will carry out a survey to look at ways to help protect your property. This will be fully discussed with you to make sure it fulfils your requirements.

The security measures are installed by a trained technician working on behalf of the NFU, for a trial period of up to three weeks. This compliments the advice provided during a visit by your local officer on crime reduction measures including security marking and property listing. All visits and advice are offered free and without obligation. Costs for the fitting of any equipment, if agreed, will be made clear during the specialist survey.

Read the security tips and who to contact for more information here.

Another successful (if wet!) croquet tournament!

Thank you to ALL for coming to the Magnis Croquet Tournament 2018 on Saturday 11th August.  Perhaps the rain made it all the more a typically British summer’s afternoon of playing a peculiarly British game.

Joining in the fun were teams from local parishes – Bishopstone, Bridge Sollars, Brinsop, Kenchester and Mansel Lacey – and after 3 rounds playing on 2 courts in the wonderful grounds of Bishopstone House, the winners were the team from Bishopstone.

Bishopstone team comprising Damian Keefe, John Burwood, Anne and John Moore

 

David Macklin has now counted the proceeds – we made a little less than at Kenchester last year but, despite the rain, we still made a very decent total of £385. We plan to use the same formula as was used last year, i.e. two-thirds to the host parish PCC and one-third divided between the other parishes’ PCCs.

A very big thanks for our hosts, Matt and Sybella Kirkbride.

Road Closures – August 2018

RESURFACING WORKS:-

A438 – Oakchurch to Portway

(Challenge Fund)

Monday, 13 August 2018 to (and including) Thursday, 16 August 2018

Road closed 20.00 hours to 06.00 hours daily – NIGHT Works

A438 – Portway Inn

(Challenge Fund)

Monday, 6 August 2018 to (and including) Wednesday, 8 August 2018

Road closed 09.30 hours to 17.00 hours daily

A438 – B4230 Junction to SD Joint Byford

(Challenge Fund)

Thursday, 9 August 2018 to (and including) Tuesday, 14 August 2018

Road closed 09.30 hours to 17.00 hours daily

No weekend work

A4103 – Roman Road, Hereford

Monday, 30 July 2018 to (and including) Thursday, 2 August 2018

Road closed 09.00 hours to 17.00 hours daily

U80205 – Stonebow Road, Hereford

Friday, 3 August 2018

Road closed 20.00 hours to 06.00 hours (on Saturday, 4 August 2018)

A4103 – Aylestone Hill Roundabout to Bromyard Turn

(Challenge Fund)

Monday, 6 August 2018 to (and including) Friday, 10 August 2018

Road closed 20.00 hours to 06.00 hours daily – NIGHT Works

A4103 – Withington to Bartestree right turn lane

(Challenge Fund)

Monday, 13 August 2018 to (and including) Thursday, 16 August 2018

Road closed 09.30 hours to 17.00 hours daily

A465 – Aylestone Hill

(Challenge Fund)

Thursday, 16 August 2018 and Friday, 17 August 2018

Road closed 09.30 hours to 17.00 hours daily

Cheese and Wine Tasting Evening – £497 raised

19th June Update: We would like to thank everyone who came along to the Cheese and Wine Tasting Evening and helped us to raise the grand sum of £497. It was a very enjoyable event with some delicious “tastes” on offer and our special thanks go to Muriel and Neil for preparing it all and for sharing their knowledge with us in such a friendly and entertaining way.

Come and join us for a Cheese and Wine Tasting Evening  on Saturday July 7th at 7.30pm in the New Bridge Community Centre. This is a fundraiser for the community centre, tickets cost £10 and are now available from Jo (01981 590620) or Sue (01981 590319).

There will be an opportunity to sample a number of different cheeses and wines, to learn a bit about them and to pick up some recipe tips as well.  We look forward to seeing you there.

Sue Hubbard

Comments please as NDP enters Regulation 16 review

You may well have already provided your input to the Bishopstone Group Neighbourhood Development Plan but as the plan enters its final phase with a 6 week Regulation 16 consultation period, we urge you to respond. No matter whether you want to make detailed comments about a particular policy or simply register your general agreement with the NDP, your comments are important.

Read the NDP Regulation 16 documentation and find out how to respond. Following this consultation the Plan can be approved to proceed to examination and referendum.

REMEMBER – YOUR VIEWS COUNT

Overview of the Challenges in fixing potholes in Herefordshire

At the Annual Parish meeting on May 10th, Paul Norris, Balfour Beatty Locality Steward, talked about the challenges in fixing potholes in Herefordshire following the exceptional winter.  Here is the summary:

  • We are currently experiencing unprecedented levels of defects (potholes) with a significant peak in demand
  • The increased number of potholes are as a result of the severe winter weather with snow, water and cold nights exacerbating the problem
  • Teams are currently focussed on network recovery to stabilise the network following the winter weather
  • We are increasing resource to tackle the problem and plan to schedule a proactive programme of maintenance to be delivered over the Spring/ Summer
  • Due to the volume of defects we are focussing on carrying out make safe repairs to stabilise the network and ensure network safety.

Did you know?

  • There were over 5 times the number of category 1&2 defects in March in comparison with 2017
  • There were 472 Category 1 defects in March in comparison with 197 in March 2017
  • Year to date 13,397 defects have been completed in comparison with 3,144 this time last year

Why are there so many potholes on the network?
Potholes are formed as a result of water on the network and together with the weather experienced over the winter, with high levels of snow and cold nights this has had a significant detrimental impact on the roads, with potholes forming very quickly. As a result we are currently experiencing almost double the number of defects (potholes) in comparison to this time last year. This is a national problem and has led to a recent government announcement of an additional funding to tackle the problem – In Herefordshire we have be awarded £1.25m.

Why is it not possible to fix all defects at the same time in one area?
Due to the high number of defects and potholes currently on the roads our teams are having to prioritise defects based on their severity and defect expiry date to keep the public safe. Timescales for fixing potholes will be dependent on their risk to the travelling public which considers a number of aspects from the use of the road to the location of the pothole in the road. Currently with high numbers of emergency defects teams have to work reactively to prioritise these to ensure works are completed within the time we have as stated in the Highways Maintenance Plan. Whilst we endeavour to batch defects for completion in one location, when defect levels are high this may not
always be possible.

What are you doing to tackle the problem?
In response to the increased number of potholes on the network we are increasing our resource levels and creating more operational pothole gangs. We also have a jetpatcher machine operating on the network which is able to fix larger volumes of potholes and this will be focussed on the C &U road network. We are currently in the process of developing a county wide jetpatcher programme to proactively tackle potholes through find and fix. This will programme will be delivered between May and September.

Why do you not carry out a patch repair for all defects?
A patch repair is not always the right repair, particularly where a road is in poor condition, as it creates more joints for failure. Due to the high number of defects on the network we are currently having to carry out make safe repairs. As the network recovers we plan to carry out more patch repairs and in conjunction with this a larger patching programme will be scheduled to tackle some of the worst areas.

Here’s the Q&A of questions raised at the April/May round of Members and Parish briefings held by Balfour Beatty.