As a frequent passenger on the 74 bus route through Newton Farm ward, Hereford, I was saddened but not surprised by the recent by-election victory of

Ann-Marie Probert (Con) on a 24 per cent turnout split seven ways.

The eight or so Ann-Marie Probert (AMP) placards I saw around Masefield Avenue in the week leading up to May 6 represented probably the greatest Herefordshire Conservatives investment in that ward, bar the 2018 public inquiry public money hiring of a barrister toward the bulldozing of Golden Post-Newton Farm ward to make way for the Southern Link Road (electoral cleansing.)

Golden Post is an area of great deprivation, in marked contrast to Masefield Avenue, but within the same polling ward. AMP and the pro-bypass lobby say they were promised a bypass long ago, and it’s time that that promise was honoured. Yet the prospect of global warming changes everything.

While everyone would be affected by global warming ‘tipping point’, issues relating to poverty are more urgent for Newton Farm’s poorest households, and those waiting for improvement upon the former rat-infested prefabs of Beattie Avenue near Golden Post were promised rehousing years ago.

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Well said, Ann-Marie Probert – Hereford needs bridges and a bypass

Further, the local community resources that Amelia Washbourne stood for in the same by-election would transform lives for the better, whereas the guilt-tripping plethora of televised adverts for “affordable” [sic] “to pay for your funeral” policies – to me as a poor person – herald the end game of ‘no such thing as society, only individuals and their families’ and worsened isolation.

Inspired by her message, I’ve since contacted Amelia and she is keen to continue campaigning for her grandchildren’s sake.

Alan Wheatley

Hereford

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