Next PACT meeting
PACT (Partners and Communities Together led by Herefordshire Partnership) will be available on

MONDAY MAY 10 from 6 pm. NORTHOLME COMMUNITY CENTRE

Belmont local policing team will be on hand so come along and make your voice heard by
letting them know about the things which affect your quality of life and help them work with you to
find the answers

Landscaping the Dorchester Way area
Work started on landscaping the area behind Dorchester Way on Thursday, April 8. Conifers, dogwood and holly saplings were planted after which Cllr Phil Edwards and Ted Dowling (SHARP) installed two bicycle stands. Cllr Edwards has suggested the area should be christened Dorchester Dingle but reactions on the website forum suggest that this may not have widespread acceptance.

Goodbye to the Parish Freighter service
Saturday, March 20, marked the end of the Parish Freighter (rubbish and household appliance disposal) service supported financially by Belmont Rural parish council for several years. The PC chairman, Phil Edwards (on the right) was on hand to express the parish's thanks to representatives of FOCSA and to Open House for their good work. A handbill has been prepared by the parish council to explain the situation.

Stay up-to-date with Belmont's big issues
There are good faciltities in Belmont for keeping up with projects and events that affect the area. Draft plans for new housing numbers and highway options to meet projected population growth can be accessed at the library. Alternatively click on www.herefordshirecouncil.gov.uk and go to Local Development Framework options and Local Transport Plan consultations.

Belmont’s final 69-house development is linked to the provision of Belmont/Haywood Country Park where public ownership and use will prohibit further building, and guarantee local environmental and healthy options. However more immediate challenges may come from a (possible) western relief road, balancing the postive benefits of easy access to the north against disturbances (during the work and after) to our current homes. In fact, would an eastern route be of greater overall benefit?.

To assist in understanding these vital consultations an officer from the county's planning department will be present at the next Belmont Rural parish council meeting at 7:15 pm on Thursday February 18 at The Northolme Community Centre.

Pleaching will tidy up banks of the Withy Brook

(Above) The trunks of the bushes have been partially cut, "lain" to the left and interwoven with the stakes inclined towards the right. (Below left) Kettle heated from tripod in traditional rural fashion. (Below right) Driving angled stakes which interweave with trunks of bushes. Note hand-made mallet, formed from readily available material

 

 

 

Pleaching of bushes alongside the Withy Brook, between Northolme Road and Abbotsmead Road, started in mid January. The work, supported by Herefordshire Council and performed under the Wye Wood Project, aims to tame the straggly growth and convert it into the substantial hedging that Herefordsire is famous for. Trunks of the existing bushes are cut between two-thirds and three-quarters of their diameter, bent down so that they are almost horizontal and interwoven with stakes driven in at angle opposite to that of the "lain" fence

Impatient resident
beautifies "eyesore"
roundabout
Irritated over a number of years by the inability of official bodies to establish ownership of the mini-roundabout opposite the filling station entrance on Abbotsmead Road, a Belmont Rural resident equipped himself with the trappings of legality (high visibility jacket, yellow site helmet and traffic triangle) and set about transforming what correspondents to the website have described as an eyesore into a thing of beauty. The Crusader for Comeliness, who prefers this sobriquet to his real name, braved life and limb on an exceptionally busy afternoon at the supermarket, crossed the road with his fork and trowel and planted two dozen crocus bulbs in earth that had previously only achieved horticultural expression by nourishing sickly weeds. Asked if he had any regrets about this quasi-legal gesture the Crusader acknowledged only one failing: the area was larger than he had imagined and the two dozen bulbs would only cover a fraction of what he intended. At this point the interview came to an end on what can only be described as a pregnant pause.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wheelies now imminent
Cllr Phil Edwards (chairman, Belmont Rural PC), with Cllr John Jarvis (cabinet member for the environment), inspecting the distribution centre for recycling bins (better known as wheelie bins). The new bin system will start in early November. Black bag collection will continue while half the wheelies in the weekly collection round will be emptied every other week. Details of the household waste collection service can be found on the parish council's notice boards.
Addition by Cllr Glenda Powell: Wheelie bins will be delivered to everyone in the Belmont Rural area week October 5, 2009. Information regarding this service, including first collection date, will come with the bins.

 

 

 

Got a service you'd like to publicise?
The website editor recently received a request from a Belmont Rural resident asking for help about publicising a child-minding service on the local noticeboards. This was passed to the PC clerk. However, if other residents also have services they'd like to advertise the website editor would consider creating a new (free) page for this purpose. Send your details via the website's email facilitity

Changes to 75 bus route, plus reassurances about the 75 and the 82
Dist Cllr Glenda Powell has asked the website to point out that, as from Monday, September 6, the number 75 Belmont bus service will no longer drop off or pick up from the Shire Hall but will revert to the Tesco bus station in the city.

She adds: "As part of the Wyes Moves Community Service, the 75 became a service in its own right in 2005. I have had many people contact me in regard to large buses being used in Belmont and I endeavour where possible to ensure that low-floor buses are used.

"As part of the Wyes Moves service the 82 Belmont -Rotherwas route is still running for people working in Rotherwas. Although initially the contract was for three years (2003 - 2006) through careful management by the Wyes Moves Implementation group, which I chair, the service will continue to run until September 2011. As both Belmont county and parish councillor I will ensure both these routes continue as a subsidised service through Herefordshire Council."

Cllr Powell adds a later footnote (dated October 6). Congestion on the road between Tesco and the Shire Hall prevented buses from keeping to schedule and some drivers omitted the Shire Hall link on weekdays but not on Saturdays. "I have asked for buses to go to the Shire Hall on Saturdays during peak times between 10 am - 3 pm and First Midland Red said they would do trial runs to see how many passengers use this part of the route. If it proves financially viable the Shire Hall service will continue on Saturdays only."

Pictures tell the story
These photographs are intended to accompany Colin James' recent email to the website concerning rubbish in Belmont's brook and the overgrown trees near Glastonbury Close.

 

This is simply flytipping - not responsible use of a valued amenity


Here's how to abuse a good service. The mysteriously named Parish Freighter (actually a fortnightly rubbish disposal service which operates between 2 and 4 pm on Saturdays from the Belmont CC car park) has been provided by the parish council for several years now and is well regarded. It saves residents a trip to the dump and allows them to get rid of awkwardly sized and shaped items. More recently it has been run in tandem with a collecting lorry from Full House which accepts certain household items. But there are limits.

This pile of stuff had not been dumped before 1 am on Saturday March 21 but it did appear before 10 am on the same day. Dumping by otherwise absent residents is forbidden. For one thing the freighter may be unable to take the rubbish which then becomes a charge on the community. Quite simply this is flytipping. For another Full House does not accept beds for reasons of hygiene and there are two in this pile. On top of that, the pile represents a significant percentage of the freighter's capacity (which is why Andy Myatt, the CC treasurer, was included to show human scale) and, if taken, could disadvantage those who use the service properly - ie, arriving in person between 2 and 4 pm.

Since the rubbish was neatly stacked it may be that the dumpers were not malign but were unaware of the rules. But ignorance is also culpability. Please deliver your junk in person

LIz Kelso, Belmont Rural PC clerk, wishes to correct details in the above story. "The freighter is a Herefordshire Council provided service which is funded by Belmont Rural Parish Council for the benefit of Belmont Parish residents. The service is usually available on the first and third Saturdays of each month (not fortnightly!) between 2 - 4 pm although it is recommended residents check the noticeboards for details (Or the What's On page of the website. Website Editor) of the dates/times as these may vary at short notice. As far as I am aware, there is no limit to the volume or weight of items taken to the freighter but the service will not accept waste which is clearly trade waste as it is intended to be purely a service for households. Hazardous items such as paint, oil etc. will also be refused.

"The freighter service will change in July this year as Herefordshire Council have indicated that they will be withdrawing the service but the PC is attempting to find a suitable alternative as this is clearly a valuable service."

Here's some good news in Belmont

(Above) Amy Baranzeck (left) who will run the library's Children's Storytime with librarian Annie Jones at the new reception area. (Below) Adrian Blackshaw, cabinet member for economic development and community services (includes libraries) with Hubert Porte who describes himself as merely a "library user" but who is something of a mover and shaker when it comes to the public use of books in Herefordshire

Unequivocally good news is hard to find these days but the re-opening of the newly expanded library at Belmont Community Centre on March 12 must surely qualify. A former store cupboard has been converted into a 30 per cent increase in floor space leading to a better layout and a better "flow" for users.

Jan Nesarathan, of the reader services team, says the additional shelf-space will accommodate more books representing identified preferences at the Belmont library: fiction and children's titles. This means a reduced proportion of non-fiction but it is felt that the comparative nearness of the central library together with the requests procedure (and the public computers) will compensate for this. Another new feature will be a children's storytime (Saturdays, 10.30 - 11 am) run by Amy Baranzeck, library assistant.

In chatting to library service staff at the event the website editor discovered the requests procedure has two stages: a trawl of all titles within Herefordshire or, at a cost of £2.50, a trawl of the national library database. Incidentally Hereford's annual books acquisitions budget is about £290,000. Since the library service is a bulk buyer its average spend per book is £6 which means nearly 50,000 titles are bought each year.

Belmont Rural: Where? Who? How? Why?
Belmont Rural parish council has adopted the “model publication scheme 2008” under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Information published under this scheme is shown below, together with details of where it is available