Writing's on the wall for Herefordshire Council (From Ledbury Reporter)

Werintrouble says...
7:38pm Sat 12 Jan 13

What is it about Hereford that is making normal people commit this form of criminal damage?
Clearly this is a protest regarding the ever growing presence of pot holes on our very limited infra structure.
It isn't just pot holes that is prompting this form of activity. Everywhere you go within Hereford, over and over again, road signs are being repeatedly defaced with paint spray saying, 'Welcome To Poland'.
So back to my original question, 'Why is this happening in Hereford now'?
The answer, 'Havent a clue but Im sure of one single thing. People are angry and they are protesting and this is their chosen tool to air their views.

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Apendirra says...
8:00pm Sat 12 Jan 13

To be frank. whilst some do it because they like causing this criminal damage. Most do it because they feel ignored and used by a coucil that makes promises and very rarely delivers. After all wheres the cycle path (which has already been paid for) from Tupsly to Rotherwas. The "welcome to Poland" writings also have a point, although they are wrongly putting all foreign immigrants under the Polish nationality, there is a genuine and ligitimate problem and growing resentment on this issue. Though that is not just a Hereford but nation wide issue. They are not going the right way about it however. Its important to remember, an ignored population can quickly become a resentful one.

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Werintrouble says...
8:19pm Sat 12 Jan 13

Appendirra, I agree completely with you.

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Miss Taken says...
8:33pm Sat 12 Jan 13

What these idiots fail to realise is, now tax payers money has to be spent on dealing with graffiti leaving less in the coffers for matters like fixing pot holes.

As for the welcome to Poland issue, this appears to be a sinister, orchestrated attempt to stir up tensions between European and non-European residents in the county. Pointless vandalism! What will it achieve? All it will do it put more pressure on already stretched budgets to get it all cleaned off. Pack it in for heavens sake!

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Gillian1961 says...
9:41pm Sat 12 Jan 13

Im am getting in touch with D.V.L.A. to ask what are Road Tax money is going towards , its not going on our roads in Herefordshire its not just the pot holes its the roads its self, i can point out where the tarmac as completely disapeered nearly and the white lines have faded away, also the block drains from the leaves have not been cleared out makes them flood, on the corner of victoria st and st nicholas st, i saw a poor chap get soaked to deaf also whitecross round about exit to kings arce road, make you wonder where our council tax is going as well, i have been in to wales and gloucestershire and there roads are perfect, Hereford is getter so rough looking its embrassing.

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s.cowell says...
10:48pm Sat 12 Jan 13

I am fed up and ashamed of our council.
Travelling today into Monmouth and Newport i was amazed to find that even though the whole of GB has seen a lot of rain (understatement) in the last month or so - it only seems to be our roads in Herefordshire that have been affected?
I travelled through several counties (and into a new Country!) and the roads seem to be in a fair condition else where - the minute i saw the 'Welcome to England - you are now in the county of Herefordshire' sign i nearly went through a hedge when i hit the mother of all pot holes!?
Herefordshire 'HERE' you can ruin your car and completly knacker up your tracking...
YOUR welcome - enjoy your drive... grrr

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William Rudd says...
12:47pm Sun 13 Jan 13

We can all moan about pot holes.The amount of them in Whittern way last year was a joke.Residents voiced there complaint to the Council and we had parts of the road re surfaced.We are now pot hole free.Anyone seen the huge pot hole in Garrick multi story?.
To say Gloucester is pot hole free is a joke too.Take a look at this
http://www.thisisglo
ucestershire.co.uk/P
otholes-causing-mise
ry-motorists-Glouces
tershire/story-17781
300-detail/story.htm
l

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Biomech says...
8:21pm Sun 13 Jan 13

Tax payers money isn't used to clean the graffiti, that one pictures has been there over a week and the council can't even be bothered to fix that.

I say MORE graffiti, it's the only way to get noticed.

On a further note, that medium pot hole at the tesco bus exit is back again only 2 weeks after being filled in because the **** in the council think it's cheaper to redo it with poor materials every month than actually invest and fix it properly.

Remember, if you see a hole or road issue, tweet it. @hfdtraffic #hfdtraffic

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mizza21 says...
9:41am Mon 14 Jan 13

Miss Taken wrote:
What these idiots fail to realise is, now tax payers money has to be spent on dealing with graffiti leaving less in the coffers for matters like fixing pot holes.

As for the welcome to Poland issue, this appears to be a sinister, orchestrated attempt to stir up tensions between European and non-European residents in the county. Pointless vandalism! What will it achieve? All it will do it put more pressure on already stretched budgets to get it all cleaned off. Pack it in for heavens sake!

Piffle
Someone risked a criminal record to make that point. A letter to the HT, wonderful organ though it is, would not have got you all talking about it.
Also, Poland is in Europe.
They were good enough to stand next to us during the war, now all of a sudden they are not welcome?
Protests are expensive, but if there ain't no other way to make your point what choice do you have. This is a perfectly legitimate form of civil disobediance against authorities what get too big for their boots.
I suppose the chinese students in Tiananman square should have just written to their MP, or the buddhist monks what sets themselves on fire protesting about chinese occupation of Tibet should complain politely via email?
Get Real Woman !!

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Werintrouble says...
12:04pm Mon 14 Jan 13

mizza21, I agree with much of what you say and as bad as it sounds, I'd also go along with Biomech giving tacit approval to what is crime though I know it cannot be right to condone what is being done.
But, this isn't the purpose of me replying to you. You have been terse to Miss Taken and you are wrong. We all have opinions and we should respect oneanother and not aim our frustrations on fellow Posters.
I am new on this site and I think Miss Taken is and it took me a long time to decide if I should come on here because I didn't want to open myself up to any insults.
Ive been reading the Posters remarks for a very long time. Im doing this now because of Lukio, TwoWheels and of course the King of Rubbish Bobby47.
They've all gone and that saddens me. So what Im saying is, be a little kinder to us new Posters and don't frighten us away by being terse and dismissing our views as piffle.

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trucking says...
1:50pm Mon 14 Jan 13

What a bunch of t***s that did the graffity, that has to be paid to be cleaned, tax payers money or not it will cost someone. Yes the roads are in a state but that won't help will it. Apendirra if the cycle path that you are on about is the new bridge ? It has been started on just before xmas. This town is in a state already, graffity will only make it look 100 times worse.

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trucking says...
1:50pm Mon 14 Jan 13

What a bunch of t***s that did the graffity, that has to be paid to be cleaned, tax payers money or not it will cost someone. Yes the roads are in a state but that won't help will it. Apendirra if the cycle path that you are on about is the new bridge ? It has been started on just before xmas. This town is in a state already, graffity will only make it look 100 times worse.

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OwenH says...
1:57pm Mon 14 Jan 13

Although not strictly related to the headline subject - I must say that I've been enjoying the spelling and geography lessons contained within this thread. Learning new things everyday...... Keep up the good work!

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mizza21 says...
2:41pm Mon 14 Jan 13

Werintrouble, Perhaps my tirade at Miss Taken did come across as a bit strong, but then she used fairly strong language and I thought I matched her tone while making a point about protest etc etc.
I may be mistaken about her geographical point visa vie Poland/Europe. Perhaps she means non-European residents and Poles falling out with each other.
I hope she posts again, even if it's just to tell me to eff off.

I hoped it would be noticed that my comparison of Buddhist Monks making the ultimate sacrifice and a bloke standing in front of a tank in tiananman square to someone spraying something questionable on a bridge in Hereford is rather proposterous, hence the instruction to "get real" at the end being clearly tongue in cheek.

I shouldn't over analyse my own posts but it wasn't meant to offend in all seriousness.
If it has I do apologise.

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Werintrouble says...
3:13pm Mon 14 Jan 13

Mizza21, I now regret sending you my Post and if I've hurt your feelings I am sorry. It's just that I came onto this site mindful that some posts were getting a bit spikey and I guess Im being over sensitive.
I do appologise.

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Biomech says...
3:48pm Mon 14 Jan 13

I still call for more graffiti. A march or protest in town still costs money, people have to attend, extra police and logistics are involved which are taken away from other aspects of the job.

But protests are the governments way of letting people think they are being heard, they don't care, that's why they allow them to happen.

Graffiti is something they don't like because it makes them look bad. Therefore, they take notice.

And, for what it's worth, after a week of being there it took the HT to publish the story for the council to do anything about it. Now the graffiti has gone, the pot holes remain.

More disruption please!

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mizza21 says...
4:10pm Mon 14 Jan 13

Werintrouble. I believe you and I are on the same side. None taken at all.

One thing occured to me though.
What if Miss Taken is actually an 18 stone rugby playing bloke with no sense of humour at all who takes to posting under pseudonyms.

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bobby47 says...
4:12pm Mon 14 Jan 13

Mizza, then you are knackered! I might just escape his wrath.
See you mate.

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Werintrouble says...
4:19pm Mon 14 Jan 13

Hello Bobby. You've stolen my line to Mizza.

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dippyhippy says...
4:45pm Mon 14 Jan 13

Perhaps we should set our minds to thinking up a new " catch phrase," for want of a better word,for our graffitti artist to spray? We could run a competition to come up with the most original way of slating the council,without using vocabulary likely to cause offence!

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dippyhippy says...
4:54pm Mon 14 Jan 13

I do think the words "Here we can" should appear somewhere in the catch phrase!!

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trucking says...
6:57pm Mon 14 Jan 13

Those of you that want to start spray painting our town must be total IDIOTS, there are better ways of making youself heard, destroyiing our town with graffity is wrong. get a life.

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Tupsley witch says...
7:10pm Mon 14 Jan 13

William Rudd - I'd like to see which part of Whittern Way is now pot hole free. Yes part of the road was resurfaced, but the pot holes have now grown on the rest of the road.

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bobby47 says...
7:37pm Mon 14 Jan 13

How many of our group would actually step out from this forum, get organised and protest peacefully outside the Town Hall or Brockington House?
No messing. Yes or No. If the answer is a 'No', I wouldn't think any the less of any of you. Id understand but Im for it.
I'd do it now because Im genuinely tired of talk and no action. We can't just carry on doing this in the hope that the odd Councillor writes in to support our view or Mr Jarvis jumps in the Lugg.
Anyone fancy it?

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bobby47 says...
8:13pm Mon 14 Jan 13

I can understand people using a spray can to protest and as apendirra has pointed out, an ignored society can easily and quickly become a resentful one but it can't be right that we give our approval to this form of protest which is a form of criminal activity.
We still live in a democracy and we should excercise that right by gathering together and protesting in a peaceful and lawful way rather than getting hold of a spray can and becoming part of the mob.
I do appreciate the opposite view to mine and I do have some sympathy for where you are coming from but it can't be the answer to our problems with this bloody Council.

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Biomech says...
10:15pm Mon 14 Jan 13

When the public can be heard and the council care, it's outlawed. The only form of legal protest is where the government couldn't give a ****. It's like "oh Dave's kicking off again, let him go outside and shout a bit until he gives up".

It's nice to know, however, that you feel that you need to be told that you can voice your opinion in limited ways.

Throughout history, change has happened because people have gone against the grain, against what is socially, politically and legally acceptable. Rosa Parks, Malcom X, Mandela, Hitler, MLK, Jesus (if you;re that way inclined), Newton, Darwin, Marx, Joan of Arc, Malcolm X, Eeven Elvis.

They all "did" when people told them it was wrong.

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bobby47 says...
11:45pm Mon 14 Jan 13

Ok, well lets all get down to Halfords, get some spray cans and daub 'Jarvis can get stuffed' all over the place. We all get nicked, we all go on the dna data base, do our Probation or custodial sentence, we'll no doubt end up being banned from ever purchasing a spray paint can and we'll all end up on the 'Graffiti Offenders Register' and be banned from ever going near a Council Building and have access to a bloody keyboard to post our protests against this unholy Council Leadership.
In the meantime, my wife kicks me out, me kids and Grandkids disown me, even the Hereford District Angling Association refuse to have a thing to do with me and the leg tag they strapped to my leg rubs and causes my eczema to itch and become sore.
I've gotta get help. Goodnight.

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Gillian1961 says...
11:55pm Mon 14 Jan 13

Well lets get back to the subject of pot holes, while we are out and about in are cars etc all the pot holes we come across we should write down where they are then phone Highways up and tell them the more of us that inandated them with calls they might do something about them,, lets gang up and make the council pay ok

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Biomech says...
12:28am Tue 15 Jan 13

Booby47, how little faith you have in yourself, you'd have to get caught first :)

Gillian, reporting them is great, because if I don't see one and my car gets damaged, I will be putting in a claim and having a record of it being reported can only help.

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mizza21 says...
9:23am Tue 15 Jan 13

I tried to imagine myself spraying this on Greyfriars Bridge.
It's very public so would have to have been in the wee small hours. I would also have to have an axe to grind about roads and in particular potholes to the extent where I was moved to take such severe steps.
Most people get annoyed by potholes, but to take action on this scale is quite extreme, verging on the unhinged.
Was it you Bobby47 ?

Oh yes, I'd join you outside the Town hall for a protest. So long as there wasn't anything too extreme to get the press interested. Perhaps dressing up as a pothole ?

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bobby47 says...
9:36am Tue 15 Jan 13

Mizza, Hello Pal. It has all the hallmarks of me doesn't it. I'd certainly fit the profile.

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Miss Taken says...
11:40am Tue 15 Jan 13

mizza21 wrote:
Werintrouble. I believe you and I are on the same side. None taken at all. One thing occured to me though. What if Miss Taken is actually an 18 stone rugby playing bloke with no sense of humour at all who takes to posting under pseudonyms.

I may well be around the 18 stone mark, but am most definitely female (with a sense of humour), although I am posting under a pseudonym!

I made a mistake in my first post, when I said "on the Poland issue, this appears to be a sinister, orchestrated attempt to stir up tensions between European and non-European residents in the county." what I meant was this is an attempt to stir up tensions between Polish and non-Polish residents.

It's subtle, underhand racism. I also suspect that all white "foreigners" with non-native accents, are being lumped under the Polish banner. The issue here isn't one which can be addressed locally. This is a national issue - the government's European open door policy, which will only get worse with the addition of freedom of movement for Romanian and Bulgarian nationals in 2014.

This graffiti makes non-British people living in the county feel uncomfortable and threatened. At the end of the day they are only using a legitimate system open to them to seek a better life. The grafitti will not rid the county of all "foreigners" so what's the point? The anger and resentment needs to be levelled at the government and not the council who use our (tax payers) money to clean the graffiti off.

By the way, I would be up for a protest on the pothole issue - there's a corker on th street that I live on, that I have to dodge regularly to keep my tyres, tracking and suspension in tact. I remain resolute on the overall graffiti issue though - pack it in!

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littlewhitebull says...
12:53pm Tue 15 Jan 13

I took a visiting friend to the footie at Edgar Street last week. He kindly offered to drive. As he comes from Welsh Wales he couldn't believe the cost of car parking - it's much cheaper where he lives and actually free in some car parks. He also found it completely amazing to find large potholes on the A49 along Edgar Street, the 'Tesco' roundabout and Victoria Street. As he said, it is difficult to miss some potholes as they are actually right on the driving line, and swerving into the next lane of traffic is not a good idea.
Glad Bobby47 is back. Hopefully, the fish are still biting and the council's new idea to tax the drowning of maggots will not happen.

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Miss Taken says...
1:02pm Tue 15 Jan 13

It should be remembered that the A49 is not the council's responsibility - it comes under the Highways Agency.

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Ubique5740 says...
1:37pm Tue 15 Jan 13

Bobby47 - I am with you, all I need is the time and date plus of course dress code. Will I need a banner with a suitable ( some might say unsuitable) comment written on it?

One of the pothole in my area has just received its first birthday card.

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Biomech says...
1:38pm Tue 15 Jan 13

Some people theorise that it's the Polish putting up the graffiti.

"At the end of the day they are only using a legitimate system open to them to seek a better life."

I don't understand this (seriously). Eastern European countries are supposed to be so bad, "cheap" and impoverished - yet, immigrants come here and suddenly they all drive new imported BMW's and Audi's, they open shops and start businesses and then send money back home.

Where does this capitol come from??

As a successful business owner myself, knowing the cost of doing business and how much you need to turn over to get by, I wouldn't even consider opening a shop in town.

Where I used to work, we used to sell thousands of pounds of gear to foreigners in Hereford.

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Miss Taken says...
3:01pm Tue 15 Jan 13

@Biomech

Re: "I don't understand this (seriously). Eastern European countries are supposed to be so bad, "cheap" and impoverished - yet, immigrants come here and suddenly they all drive new imported BMW's and Audi's, they open shops and start businesses and then send money back home."

The above is a bit of a sweeping generalisation don't you think?!

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Biomech says...
3:12pm Tue 15 Jan 13

Not at all. And even if it's 10%, the question still remains.

I do like the way everyone turns to xenophobia the millisecond someone mentions something that isn't clean cut and white.

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Werintrouble says...
3:18pm Tue 15 Jan 13

Biomech, I think the answer is a thing they call Homes of Multiple Occupancy. Basically it's living cheaply in a rented home where lots of the migrants now live.
By doing this and living a bit rough there are few costs and that frees up the money.
Im pretty sure this is how it works. I know there are issues to all of this but these are just people trying to have a better time of it.
I do understand the frustration that exists Biomech. It ain't their fault. It's our past Government.

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Biomech says...
3:25pm Tue 15 Jan 13

heh see what I mean ;)

I'm asking because - as a businessman who understands costs, turnover, profit margins. I do not understand how so called "poor" people have the funds to start up businesses and open shops when people who aren't so poor struggle or are unable to do these things.

The reason I use Eastern Europeans as the example is that they fit the bill. The comes from impoverished counties yet are able to startup business in what is supposedly are much more expensive country. I have not seen this scenario with native British poor people.

It would be like someone from one of those market stalls in town moving to Monaco and opening a shop. Without someone explaining it to me, I do not see it making any sense.

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Biomech says...
3:26pm Tue 15 Jan 13

Excuse all the awful typos :P

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Miss Taken says...
3:27pm Tue 15 Jan 13

But it is xenophobia. If the graffiti made mention of a skin colour other than white or Gypsies and Travellers people would be up in arms but the Poles/"foreigners" seem to be fair game in this county. According to the government and laws of this land, Polish citizens are perfectly entitled to be living here and if they send their money home, that's none of our business. My brother lives and works in Oman and sends the majority of his salary back here to Blighty to support his daughter. So what? He's worked hard for his wages and how he chooses to spend the money is up to him. This would be a dreadful nanny state if the powers that be started dictating how people spend their wages. Please note the use of wages - benefits are an entirely different matter, now there's a can of worms!

Right, I am off to report the gaping pothole on my street.

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Biomech says...
3:44pm Tue 15 Jan 13

Thank you MissTaken for PERFECTLY proving my point.

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bobby47 says...
3:47pm Tue 15 Jan 13

Miss Taken, My good friend. No! Biomech isn't in anyway, shape or form being a bigot by raising an issue and asking a question about a huge economic factor.
For my part, I too wonder at just how many people our impoverished County can receive and cater for but it ain't the fault of the East European people, it's the madness and the fault of past Governments.
We all have to be able to speak about these things and express our view without falling out with oneanother.
My very warmest regards to you.

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Miss Taken says...
3:59pm Tue 15 Jan 13

bobby47 wrote:
Miss Taken, My good friend. No! Biomech isn't in anyway, shape or form being a bigot by raising an issue and asking a question about a huge economic factor. For my part, I too wonder at just how many people our impoverished County can receive and cater for but it ain't the fault of the East European people, it's the madness and the fault of past Governments. We all have to be able to speak about these things and express our view without falling out with oneanother. My very warmest regards to you.

Thanks bobby47 for responding in a way which challenges the point and not the person. I am always up for a healthy debate but not if it becomes personal.

You are absolutely right about the increasing population of our impoverished county and lets hope that the 2011 census figures give a truer picture of our population and that the government finally awards Herefordshire the money it needs to cater for the number of residents it really has.

Having said this, the way it's going the council will provide statutory services only (which I think are children's social services, highways and waste) and nothing else. Adult social services has already been shoved over to the Wye Valley Trust and mental health services to 2gether Trust not to mention all the services which are now being provided by other partner organisations like Amey, Halo and the hopelessly inept Hoople.

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bobby47 says...
4:09pm Tue 15 Jan 13

Miss Taken, Hello my friend. The problem with the Cenus results is that Homes of Multi Occupancy(HMO's) do not reveal the exact numbers of people who live within the dwelling because the landlord would fall foul of Fire Safety Regs and a bucket load of other red tape.
The only accurate way is counting through NHS registration, namely Doctor Surgeries and that ain't a stone anyone will be quick to lift up.
My very warmest regards to you and welcome to our group of ranters and ravers.

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Miss Taken says...
4:19pm Tue 15 Jan 13

bobby47 wrote:
Miss Taken, Hello my friend. The problem with the Cenus results is that Homes of Multi Occupancy(HMO's) do not reveal the exact numbers of people who live within the dwelling because the landlord would fall foul of Fire Safety Regs and a bucket load of other red tape. The only accurate way is counting through NHS registration, namely Doctor Surgeries and that ain't a stone anyone will be quick to lift up. My very warmest regards to you and welcome to our group of ranters and ravers.

Even GPs records may not be entirely accurate, having thought about it, as many foreign nationals don't register and just use the walk-in centre or A&E.

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bobby47 says...
5:09pm Tue 15 Jan 13

Miss Taken, Yep. Take your point. A big part of this issue is the wrong perception that all our visitors are Polish when in fact the combined numbers of all the other minority groups from within the EU outnumber the people from Poland.
Me for example, where I live in the City there are only a few Polish people. The vast majority of my neighbours are from the former Soviet States, Romania and Bulgaria.
Im pretty sure that because of the Polish people having this hardworking ethic and the drive to open business, they are at the forefront of people's minds when we discuss this issue.
You might say, because of their prominence within our community, they the Polish people are at the focus point of the debate and are getting a bit of a raw deal.

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brianjmee says...
7:19am Wed 16 Jan 13

Having driven past what I belive to have been 3 contractors removing the 'Pot Hole' message (not graffitti in my book) I have calculated that 3.5 pot holes could have been repaired at the same cost. I have to ask why this embarrassing message to our council was removed with such haste. Could it be that it smacked of - heaven forbid- a polictical attack on our Tory led Council ! All signs of discontent will be removed - you have been warned citizen !

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Miss Taken says...
7:58am Wed 16 Jan 13

I think it has been removed so quickly as it's a criminal act that makes our city look awful!

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Biomech says...
11:35am Wed 16 Jan 13

It was there for over a week - in fact, it was done...not after the 6th January, so nearly 2 weeks. (I saw it on the way back from work).

It wasn't removed until it made the front page of the HT

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William Rudd says...
11:29am Thu 17 Jan 13

Tupsley witch.Yes there are three potholes that have re appeared at the top of Whittern Way.Have you reported them......Thought not.As usual I have reported them myself.

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Biomech says...
1:00pm Thu 17 Jan 13

The only reason they reappear so frequently, is that they use a poor mixture to fill them in, in some inane belief that it's more cost effective.

So pathetically short sighted.

Case in point: Bus exit on the Tesco roundabout. 2 weeks that "repair" lasted.

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Miss Taken says...
1:09pm Thu 17 Jan 13

Biomech wrote:
The only reason they reappear so frequently, is that they use a poor mixture to fill them in, in some inane belief that it's more cost effective. So pathetically short sighted. Case in point: Bus exit on the Tesco roundabout. 2 weeks that "repair" lasted.

Hear hear!

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Writing's on the wall for Herefordshire Council (From Ledbury Reporter)

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Writing's on the wall for Herefordshire Council

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