Dinedor Serpent News

Save Bullinghope

2008-05-01T21:01:00.000+01:00

A newsletter detailing the latest on a new campaign to prevent housing at Bullinghope, the first stage in a huge new suburb of Hereford covering land of archeological interest as we all know can be downloaded, or read via the newsblogm, on www.dinedorhillaction.co.uk

High Court Challenge

2008-04-29T19:04:00.004+01:00

Those horrified by the Council's bulldozing of our heritage may be interested to learn of a legal challenge in the High Court to the Council's decision to build a huge new suburb south of Hereford, and around the Ribbon, which will make local traffic significantly worse. You can find out more on the campaign website at www.dinedorhillaction.co.uk

Legal challenge

2008-02-13T12:31:00.002Z

An update and request for help on the Legal Challenge to Herefordshire Council proposing housing at Bullinghope is now available on our sister site at www.dinedorhillaction.co.uk. Please help if you can and spread the word.

Sustrans Connect2 Wins The Peoples £50 Million!

2007-12-13T12:49:00.001Z

...which means that the Rotherwas to Bartonsham cycling scheme via the old bridge will now go ahead... who needs the Rotherwas Cul-de-sac??

£50 million won and we couldn't have done it without you!

This is fantastic news, and thanks to everyone who voted for Sustrans' Connect2 in the People's £50 Million Lottery Giveaway, and for your help in winning £50 million of funding from the Big Lottery Fund for Sustrans to invest in walking and cycling UK-wide. This really is an amazing achievement for our charity and the many local authority and other partners with whom we will work on Connect2. We simply couldn't have done it without you and your votes.

We start work on delivering Connect2 in January 2008. Our local authority partners are poised ready to go, and will be adding matched funding from their own transport and other budgets to the £50 million from the Big Lottery Fund. This is a five year project, and in total we have already identified local authority funding to support Connect2, and we are working hard to bring even more funding to the project so that we can ensure as many people as possible benefit from Connect2.

We will continue to update our Supporters on progress during 2008, please join us as a Supporter if you aren't already, our Supporters are the foundation of the organisation and without them Sustrans would simply grind to a halt. If you would like to sign up for our e-newsletter please go to www.sustrans.org.uk and click on email newsletter. In the meantime can I take this opportunity to wish you a very Happy Christmas and New Year and to thank you again for supporting Sustrans' Connect2.

New political grouping on Herefordshire Council challenges Council on Ribbon and ICT scandals

2007-12-10T21:20:00.000Z

Those who have been following the saga of the Rotherwas Ribbon may be interested to know that the local ward councillor Gerald Dawe has left the Independent group on the Council and formed a new council group along with former Mayor of Hereford, Cllr. Marcelle Lloyd-Hayes, who has also resigned - from the Liberal Democrats. The new group, to be called the Herefordshire Alliance for Accountability and Democracy, is not a party but a coalition campaigning for proper council processes in the light of the ICT scandal and resultant Crookhall Report, as well as the shoddy way in which the Ribbon discovery and subsequent scrutiny process was handled. Cllr. Dawe remains a member of the Green Party.

More information on the Alliance and the latest news can be found on Councillor Dawe's own website at www.geralddawe.org.uk

Cllr. Marcelle Lloyd-Hayes leaves Lib Dems

2007-11-28T09:11:00.000Z

Cllr. Marcelle Lloyd-Hayes, one of the Ribbon's staunchest defenders, has resigned from the Liberal Democrats citing their failure to challenge the Council on a raft of issues including the Ribbon cover up.

For full details visit her website at www.marcelle.org.uk

Campaigners welcome dropped charges

2007-10-08T10:37:00.000+01:00

We are delighted that sanity has finally prevailed. It always seemed unlikely that a prosecution could succeed and many of us have suspected from the start that this complete waste of public funds was driven mainly by the Council's wish to save face after Cllr June French's inappropriate and intemperate response to a modest challenge to the Council's secrecy.

It will be noted that since the Cabinet meeting which led to these arrests substantial evidence has come to light demonstrating just how deceitful the original handling of the Archaeological find was.

The prosecution case was always dependent on evidence from the Council. The CPS have examined that evidence, and in particular CCTV recordings, and have concluded that the evidence is not likely to secure a conviction.

Cheif Executive Neil Pringle and Legal and Democratic Services head Alan McLaughlin aided and abetted Cllr French on the Day and have been responsible for the unsatisfactory evidence provided to the CPS. They have caused innocent people several months of anxiety and stress. They should both resign before they do further damage.

Second scandal hits Herefordshire Council

2007-10-01T18:01:00.000+01:00

Head of Legal and Democratic Services Alan McLaughlin called on to resign as Council faces enquiry by District Auditor

Following investigations into financial misconduct, a second scandal is engulfing Herefordshire Council this week as

* Councillors call for Scrutiny of the Rotherwas Ribbon to be re-opened because the previous scrutiny broke the rules

* The District Auditor, Liz Cave, has now been asked to investigate the council's persistent failure to comply with statutory guidance and with it's own standing orders

* Head of Legal and Democratic Services Alan McLaughlin face a call to resign over the way he pressurised Councillors not to be involved in the scrutiny on entirely unjustified grounds

Four Councillors who sat on the committee supposedly scrutinising the way the Council handled the discovery of the Rotherwas Ribbon have written to Cllr. Bob Matthews, Chair of the Environment Scrutiny Committee, demanding that the scrutiny be reconvened as it broke so many rules as to be entirely invalid. Requests to senior Councillors to take the matter up have simply been passed on to officers.

Cllrs. Hubbard (Independent), Lloyd-Hayes, Bartrum and Oliver (Liberal Democrats) state in their letter of October 1st that there has been “a failure to comply” with key government rules about how scrutiny committees should be run, “other than a confused and hurried attempt to call some witnesses... [some of whom] officers discouraged... from attending.” Crucial evidence was not heard due to the unprofessional and unseemly rush to get the process “done and dusted”, a phrase used by Chairman Cllr. Matthews.

The furore over the scrutiny of the Ribbon has led to an understanding that Herefordshire Council's scrutiny procedures may have been breaking the law since 2000. These matters have now been passed on to the District Auditor, Liz Cave, who has agreed to look at the issues raised. The revelation has come to light after Councillors labelled the scrutiny of the Rotherwas Ribbon discovery “invalid”.

Co-ordinator of the Rotherwas Ribbon Campaign Bob Clay has now called on the Head of Legal and Democratic Services Alan McLaughlin to resign. This follows a string of questionable actions including trying to gag councillors on the wholly invalid grounds that as they had expressed an opinion about the Rotherwas Road before the election they should not be allowed to participate in scrutinising the process of handling the Ribbon.

If this were true, every councillor would be barred!” said Mr. Clay. He cited papers from the Standards Board making it clear that Councillors are expected to pursue the issues on which they were elected. Mr. Clay commented: “An advisor at the Standards Board found it difficult to believe that a monitoring officer could raise such matters in relation to a scrutiny committee.”

Mr Clay argued that even if Mr McLaughlin were correct in trying to bar councillors from the scrutiny process, he had not done so even-handedly. “If he bars Councillors because they were opposed to the road, he must also bar all those who have indicated they are in favour”, he added.

In a letter to Mr. McLaughlin, Mr. Clay reveals that David Miller QC, a local resident and retired judge, has also read the relevant legal documents and cannot understand why Cllr. Marcelle Lloyd-Hayes was subjected to such interference.

The purpose of a Scrutiny Committee is to hold the Executive to account... Your conduct has [undermined] that process... you should consider your position”, Mr. Clay wrote.

Mr Clay said: “The Council cannot continue with the road whilst it's legal authority to do so is in question. It should call a halt, senior officers should resign and there should be a full and independent inquiry into the process of scrutiny. There should then be a re-scrutiny of the Council's conduct over the Ribbon discovery. Only then can Herefordshire Council Tax payers have any confidence in the honesty and competence of their council.”

THE RIBBON COVER-UP: SCRUTINY PROCESS INVALID

2007-09-26T14:31:00.000+01:00

Councillors who called in the way the Council handled the discovery of the Rotherwas Ribbon/Dinedor Serpent for scrutiny are claiming that the process was so fundamentally flawed as to be invalid. It has come to light that Herefordshire Council's scrutiny process does not conform to government requirements.

This suits a Council which does not wish too much light to be shed on the way in which it covered up the discovery of the Ribbon for political reasons,” said campaign co-ordinator, Bob Clay.

Six Conservative councillors on the committee - 5 of whom remained silent throughout the so-called scrutiny process - voted to approve their own adminstration's handling of the issue. Liberal Democrat Cllrs. Chris Bartrum and Marcelle Lloyd-Hayes, and Independents Mark Hubbard and Alan Seldon voted against.

Councillors argue that the scrutiny was invalid because:

It failed to meet national standards which require a council to provide a budget to fund witnesses and consultants
It failed to discuss crucial and detailed evidence submitted by William Wilson, a specialist solicitor
It failed to allow enough notice for key witnesses to attend due to the Officers wrongly insisting that call-ins should be finalised within 10 days
I
t was based on some witnesses being discouraged from attending by a Council officer
It was based on pressure on opposition councillors not to attend by Council officers, based on incorrect understanding and application of rules on declarations of interest
It broke standing orders by refusing to allow members of the public to be co-opted
The Chair failed to prevent a sustained and offensive verbal assault on Cllr. Marcelle Lloyd-Hayes by the Council Solicitor, Mr O'Keefe, based on the same incorrect understandings as outlined above

Independent Cllr. Mark Hubbard said: “I speak to people every day who think the this Council pushes through controversial policies without proper scrutiny. On Monday we tried to scrutinise this decision. But we were voted down by five Conservative Councillors who had clearly made their minds up before the meeting and refused to play an active role in the scrutiny. What sort of message does this send to the people of Herefordshire?”

Liberal Democrat Cllr. Lloyd-Hayes added: “We have no intention of giving up on an issue of transparency and democracy. The overwhelming support from the public for openness is being ignored. There seems to be a witch hunt against people who disagree with Council polices, but when you consider recent revelations about council conduct we are only doing our public duty in holding the executive to account.”

Bob Clay concluded: “The process which took place on Monday is so fundamentally flawed as to be entirely invalid. This is despite the valiant attempts of the four opposition Councillors, each of whom asked important questions which are still unanswered. The Council has clearly not followed either government rules or it's own standing orders in it's attempt to cover up the cover up of the historic find of the century. Herefordshire deserves higher standards from it's Council and so we will be taking this further.”

COUNCIL PRESS RELEASE MISLEADING

2007-09-26T14:26:00.000+01:00

Cllr. Gerald Dawe, in whose ward the Ribbon was found, has accused the council of misleading the public in a press release saying that that they announced the Ribbon in May. "The announcement they refer to in Herefordshire Matters is deliberately misleading. It is given a small and insignificant space and makes no indication about the significance of the find”

“The emails released under Freedom of Information show clearly that the Council did know how significant the Ribbon was when they published this dismissive report, just to cover their backs and hoping no-one noticed. It is really wrong to mislead the public in this way.”

SCRUTINY ON HEREFORDSHIRE COUNCIL IS A FARCE

2007-09-26T13:02:00.000+01:00

SCRUTINY IS A FARCE

As you may have heard, Herefordshire Council’s Environment Scrutiny Committee voted by 6 votes to 4 to rubber-stamp the Cabinet decision to resume vandalising the Rotherwas Ribbon.

The 6 in favour were all Conservatives, only one of whom spoke during the entire proceedings (9.30am to 1.30pm) and judging by his brief intervention it might have been better for it to have been 6 out of 6 for the ‘Trappist Tendency’. (Trappists and Whips, the mind boggles!?)

The 4 against were Marcelle Lloyd-Hayes and Chris Bartrum, Liberal Democrats, Mark Hubbard and Alan Seldon, Independents. We thank them all for the tremendous effort they have made in the most appalling circumstances.

WE DO NOT REGARD THE MATTER AS CLOSED!

Attached is a letter sent to the Chairman of this Committee and also to Cllr Edwards, the Chair of the Strategic Monitoring Committee that is meant to be the ‘overarching’ supervisory body that ensures proper scrutiny and due process. “Holding the Executive to account” is the phrase that appears repeatedly in the Government’s guidance to the Local Government Act 2000, but Herefordshire’s senior officers behave as if this is meant to be some silly little piece of amusement that no one should take seriously (rather like the drivel that appears at the bottom of their new style notepaper. i.e. “putting people first, providing for our communities, preserving our heritage, promoting the County, protecting our future”. It is worthy of the lowest depths of an East European People’s Democracy in the 1950s.)

The Chairman ignored the letter.

The meeting failed to consider crucial and detailed evidence submitted by William Wilson. They broke their own standing orders by refusing to recognise that members of the public could be co-opted to the Committee. They persisted in the mythology that call-ins have to be finalised within 10 days. We were treated to a set piece spectacle of Mr O’Keefe, Council Solicitor, subjecting Marcelle Lloyd-Hayes to a sustained and offensive assault based on a totally erroneous view of the rules governing councillors’ conduct and ethics. (To sum up, this increasingly blatant strategy: it can be described as a belief that councillors who hold a view on something, by definition cannot participate in debating or voting on the matter, but that this only applies to councillors who are opposed to Cabinet decisions and are not members of the Brockington Grandee Club.) It is to the enormous credit of Marcelle Lloyd-Hayes that she stood her ground so well in the face of this assault from the ‘bullies in suits’.

Language police

Note please, since the Brockington ‘language police’ are known to take an interest in our website, I wish to make it absolutely clear that I take full personal responsibility myself for these remarks and would welcome the opportunity to expand and develop them in the public arena.

During the meeting some interesting admissions were dragged out of the other side.

Despite an expenditure of over

￡

400,000 so far on Archaeology, the Council haven’t been able to scrape up

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10,000 for a survey that would probably have established the extent of the Ribbon several weeks ago. (Explanatory note for those still unfamiliar with BrockThought: If the extent of the Ribbon were known then it would have strengthened the perception that it was a very major discovery and might have forced the Cabinet to give serious consideration to diverting the road around it.)

Councillor Wilcox, a member of the Cabinet, is quite happy that he wasn’t told about the Find until early July despite the fact that the Construction Project Manager was circulating information to various Officers on May 11th saying “There is clearly a political dimension to the issue, which everyone seems to be aware of.” Cllr Notpartofeveryone also treated us to a dose of profound insight when he revealed that a lot of people who were against the Rotherwas Relief Road were now in favour of preserving the Ribbon. It seems that reasonable people should not take advantage of powerful reasons that support an existing view.

We were provided with a new explanation as to why the Cabinet members weren’t told about the Find. Before the Election we were in the Purdah period and after the Election there wasn’t a Cabinet until…ummh !! Errr!! (May 25th – Ed.) Still a long time before the announcement in early July. Actually this is a bit of an “own goal” since during the Purdah period Officers have to report anything that would normally be reported to the Cabinet to the Chief Executive. We believe that this is the same Mr. N. Pringle who has been sending letters to Councillors threatening them with serious consequences if they persist in expressing the view that he “failed to disseminate information”. Over to you, Neil !

Chappel is mercifully brief

Councillor Chappell treated us to a mercifully brief reprise of his well rehearsed cameo about the Road producing 2,000 more jobs at Rotherwas whilst at the same time reducing traffic on Holme Lacey Road (Are the new workers going to fly to work, or maybe be barged up the river ?) He also described the discovery of the Ribbon as “unfortunate”.

Councillor Jarvis (Cabinet) confirmed that “if we had known then what we know now” the road would have gone on a different route.

Malcolm George, a distinguished consultant on Tourism and economic development who has far more experience and qualifications than any of the personal acquaintances that Cllr Blackshaw (Cabinet) selectively quoted verbally, described the basic approach that a normal council would adopt in evaluating the potential of such a find.

Elephant passes wind

He explained that a Tourism Scoping Study could have been done in four weeks at a cost of

￡

10,000. i.e.by the Cabinet meeting on September 6th, and probably by the Full Council Meeting on July 27th. Some discomfort crept over a few establishment faces. The elephant in the room had passed wind! (Explanatory note for those still unfamiliar with BrockThought: Had a proper scoping study have been done it might well have indicated that the potential benefits from the Ribbon in a wider Heritage context might outweigh the claimed benefit from the Road.)

We argue that the process that took place yesterday was so fundamentally flawed that it should now be set aside. And we believe that if it is not, there are a variety of steps that should be taken to pursue that objective. If you share our feelings that enough is enough and the time has come to confront the abandonment of democracy in Herefordshire, please be in touch with Peter Cocks to confirm your support for the ongoing campaign.

If you think we should continue please let Peter know

Peter Cocks 34, St. Clare’s Court, Lower Bullingham, Hereford HR2 6PY
Tel: 01432 344222 email: peter[at]rotherwasribbon.com

Bob Clay
(Campaign Co-ordinator)

Press Release: The Ribbon Cover-up

2007-09-24T09:52:00.001+01:00

Internal e-mails obtained under the Freedom of Information Act reveal that senior council officers knew about the importance of the Rotherwas Ribbon on May 11th, and therefore almost certainly before the local elections. They kept it secret – even from elected councillors - for nearly two months. They decided back in May how they would deal with the Ribbon, making a mockery of recent Cabinet reports on options. There is now also evidence that the process of scrutinising these decisions is being watered down to cover up the cover up.

Cllr. Gerald Dawe (Green), in whose ward the Ribbon was discovered, said: “It is now clear that the procedures of Herefordshire Council fall well short of the standard expected by other UK local authorities and this is damaging our reputation. Scrutiny of these decisions must be done properly and it cannot be rushed just to cover up possible mistakes by Cabinet and officers.”

THE RIBBON DECISION: Did the Council act properly?

Copies of e-mails to officers and contractors released under Freedom of Information include quotes from Mairead Lane, the Construction Project Team Leader on May 11th, two months before the discovery of the Ribbon was made public by the BBC Today programme. Ms Lane wrote: “There is a political dimension to the issue, which everyone seems to be aware of... [The find has] ...undoubted national and potential international significance. Ms Lane went on to discuss how “we could turn around a potentially bad publicity situation…”.

She concludes “Further discussion will be needed as a solution is reached to agree an approach to publicity which best benefits the Council / consultant and contractors.”

Campaign Co-ordinator Bob Clay said: “No officers appear to have considered the Ribbon or the public! The delay in releasing information was clearly a political decision to avoid negative publicity, but made by supposedly impartial officers.”

We always said that there was a political dimension to the way the Ribbon discovery was handled. This was denied but these documents prove it beyond doubt. It is outrageous that elected members were kept totally in the dark for 2 months.”

Other documents include a claim by John Burnett (Council PR) that English Heritage told the Council back in early July that they were “very unlikely” to schedule the monument – but that the Council “are not saying this publicly”. English Heritage had not had time to consider it properly at this stage.

Mr Clay added: “It seems that the Council successfully staged a “cover-up” of this huge discovery for two months, hoping to get the road continued before adequate consideration of alternatives could take place.

English Heritage have said that they cannot make a decision on scheduling until the full extent of the Ribbon is ascertained. The Council implied this would take 6 months and decided it was ‘too expensive’ to delay the road. We have evidence that the extent of the Ribbon could have been established several weeks ago at around four thousand pounds only. Only when the extent of the Ribbon is known can an informed decision be made about the road. This is something the Council do not wish to have. They want the road at all costs – including local democratic procedures.”

THE SCRUTINY: Are the Council's scrutiny procedures sub standard?

The Cabinet have ‘welcomed’ call-in of their decision by the Environment Scrutiny Committee. However it is now becoming clear that the Scrutiny procedures within Herefordshire Council fall well short of the standards adopted by other Authorities. Herefordshire Council’s scrutiny processes are at variance with the guidelines as follows: -

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Government guidelines require that local authorities should provide overview and scrutiny committees with a budget. In Herefordshire there are no such budgets. So the Committee cannot call some witnesses because “it doesn’t have a budget”, according to Chair of the Environment Scrutiny Committee Cllr. Bob Matthews.



These guidelines also suggest that scrutiny committees should meet frequently on a monthly or six weekly cycle. The Environment Scrutiny Committee only meets quarterly.

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Cllr. Matthews asked Cllr. Lloyd-Hayes to find her own witnesses. It is extraordinary that a committee chair does not realise that the committee as a whole should decide who to call.

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A Committee cannot arrange witnesses, call for documents, re-interview witnesses and much other essential processes and then debate and agree a decision in only 10 days. The very suggestion is confirmation that some people have no intention of allowing the job to be done properly. This suspicious and unseemly haste seriously compromises accountability. Standing orders say only that the Scrutiny Committee should meet within 10 days.

There has been no reply to any of the substantive points. Bob Clay was courteously invited to address the Committee last Monday under the Agenda item for members of the Public to propose future items for the Committee to consider. Councillor Edwards gave an undertaking that the Committee would consider the process by which the “Find” has been dealt with but nothing has yet been forthcoming.

Strategic Monitoring have been given evidence about the late arrival of the Archaeological Peer Review, for example. This was a crucial and somewhat critical document. Why isn’t there an enquiry taking place into why it was only produced at the start of the Cabinet meeting? One of the major issues that should be examined with witnesses, is why steps were not taken that could have identified the problem before construction started.

Surely English Heritage have to be asked to explain the one page evasion that appeared after we had all been told time and again that they were to be the main “independent adviser.”

Former Hereford Mayor Cllr. Marcelle Lloyd-Hayes said: “We are of course concerned about the council decision over the Rotherwas Ribbon, but are equally concerned over the flagrant haste and manipulation of the scrutiny process which should guard Herefordshire's voters against abuse of power. It is clear that there is a serious democratic deficit on Herefordshire Council. It is the role and duty of those of us who have been elected to hold the executive to account more effectively by demanding a proper scrutiny process and not a botched job.”

All councillors have been asked:



Do you believe that this shows that local government in Herefordshire needs to be more open and democratic in order to bring our processes to the standard expected elsewhere in the UK?

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Are you concerned that democratically elected councillors are being excluded from key parts of the decision-making process and that Cabinet Members and Council Officers need to be made more accountable to elected members?

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Do you believe that the Scrutiny Committee should be allowed sufficient time and resources to be able to thoroughly and robustly scrutinise the Rotherwas Ribbon decision making process

Scrutinising the scrutineers

2007-09-19T14:34:00.000+01:00

The Environment Scrutiny Committee meets at 9.30am on Monday 24 September at the council's Brockington Offices, Brockington, 35 Hafod Road, Hereford, HR1 1SH. For a map,

click here

.

The main item on its agenda is the call in of the Cabinet decision on the Rotherwas Ribbon. We hope that as many supporters as possible will come to watch the proceedings.

There have been some extraordinary antics by certain Councillors and Officers clearly designed to rush a pro-cabinet decision through on Monday so that Road construction can continue over the Ribbon. We will argue that there have to be further hearings with proper notice for witnesses. It’s going to be an interesting morning. Come along if you can.

Monitoring the strategy

2007-09-19T14:33:00.000+01:00

The Herefordshire Council Strategic Monitoring Committee have agreed to look at the process of how the archaeological find was handled. We are waiting to hear exactly how they are going to do that.

Petitioning

2007-09-19T14:32:00.000+01:00

Petitioning has been taking place in Hollington, High Town and elsewhere. If you can help with door to door or on the Street signature collecting, or if you know a shop, pub, community centre etc, that would take petition forms, please ring Peter Cocks on 01432 344222.

Herefordshire: banana republic

2007-09-12T21:05:00.000+01:00

UK organisation Heritage Action has called Herefordshire a "banana republic, where guardianship is a matter of mere words, money wins and world heritage gets trashed" following the Council Cabinet decision to "protect the Dinedor Serpent for future generations" by covering it with a road - which already had no economic, traffic or environmental case - for heavy lorries to an industrial estate.

Read the full story

here

* Technical note: Heritage Action's permalinks don't seem to be working. If the story isn't at the top of their news page, just scroll down - the story was published on 7th September.

Help us keep in touch

2007-09-12T21:03:00.000+01:00

If we do not have an email address for you (ie if you have received this by post or by hand, can you let us have an email address (may be a friend, relative, neighbour or workmate if you are not online yourself). Alternatively, send us a donation that will at least cover the ongoing costs of mailing newsletters to you.

￡

5 would be reasonable but more would be welcome.

Donations to Peter Cocks: 34, St. Clare’s Court, Lower Bullingham, Hereford HR2 6PY

Cabinet makes the wrong decision

2007-09-07T16:42:00.000+01:00

Cabinet vote to bury Hereford's heritage

As you may have heard Herefordshire Council's Cabinet surprised no one by making the wrong decision yesterday and have opted for building the road over the Ribbon.

Please see below our representations, that were ignored. We now hope that Scrutiny Committees will "Call-in" this decision. Information will follow about this process. The important message is that the battle is not over yet.

Our submission to the Cabinet

To be honest, we were not expecting a thorough and imaginative report, but what has been produced is far more disappointing than should have been the case.

When debating the matter at full Council, Cllr Jarvis argued that the Leader’s proposal would “give us everything that the original notice of motion gives”. But what we have got is not even an enquiry, let alone an independent one.

ENGLISH HERITAGE

There has been much talk of English Heritage being the independent advisor. They neither support nor reject building the road over the Ribbon, they simply certify that if the Council do build over the Ribbon, the methodology is satisfactory. It is rather like a Doctor certifying that a method of execution is ‘humane’ without taking any view on the appropriateness of the sentence.

In fact English Heritage have not ruled out scheduling the Ribbon and there is a huge unanswered question as to what happens if they Schedule it after the road has been completed. This is the first elephant in the room.

Supporters of the ‘Build the Road at all Costs’ brigade may take temporary comfort from the weak and contradictory stance of English Heritage. But many other Authorities may eventually regret that it was the ‘Hereford Case’ that eventually led the Courts and / or the Government to put an end to years of a worsening failure to act in the interest of heritage rather than the construction industry.

INDEPENDENT ADVICE

There is no independent advice anywhere in the report other than that of Owen Williams, in so far as they can be regarded as independent. We would argue that, given the importance of other contracts that the Amey Group has had with the Council, their position is somewhat problematic.

After all these weeks there is no pretence at any serious work on the extent or meaning of the Ribbon, simply a vague commitment to carry out further research if someone puts up the money. What happens if the outcome of that research makes clear that the road is a serious impediment to the presentation of the Ribbon in its proper context. Would anyone agree, for example, to the erection of large structures in the vicinity of the White Horse so that its visual impact was broken? We have made the same point about the Ohio Serpent Mounds repeatedly. For all the pseudo science and one or two carefully selected academic opinions, there is not a single archaeologist who has stated confidently that there are no conceivable outcomes of future research that would render the continuation of the road a dreadful mistake.

This is another large elephant in the room.

ECONOMIC AND RELATED BENEFITS

There is no consideration of potential economic and associated benefits to the County from the exploitation of the Find. The Campaign wants to make clear that we are not anticipating busloads of day trippers coming to visit a display of glittering stones but we do anticipate the possibility that the eventual outcome of further research could lead to a landscape feature that could be the centre of a wider ‘heritage park’. We find it disappointing that within all the alternatives presented, badly researched as most of them are, there is no consideration given to the obvious possibility of converting the construction work undertaken so far into pedestrian, bicycle and light transit access to such a park. This would actually REDUCE rather than increase final costs.

Such a Park could be an international focus for scientific, cultural and educational visits.

COSTINGS AND TIMESCALES

The options are poorly and very briefly addressed and in particular the costings are inadequately developed. We cannot believe that, if the total road cost is

￡

12Mill it could possibly cost

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7-9Mill to realign it. There are a range of other arbitrary and illogical assertions in the report. For example, why should the archaeological evaluation assessment reports and plans be timed to February 2008 and then May 2008 with a visitor centre study by the end of September 2008? This is a proposal for the Council’s own archaeology team to award themselves “inhouse” work. Apart from the fact that it is not good practice for the ‘inspector’ to supervise his own work and to report to himself, we also wonder why the market testing that usually receives such enthusiasm from Council leaderships have not been adopted for this exercise. We suggest that independent consultants could do this work on a much faster timescale. Many people will once again be suspicious that the processs is being manipulated to encourage hasty decisions before the serious evidence is in.

We are not in the business of offering hasty and unresearched comments ourselves but we give notice that we believe that the reports Appendices are riddled with arbitrary, inaccurate and contradictory assertions and there are a range of completely unsupported cost and time estimates. These will all be aired eventually and to the extent that we are right about this a rushed decision will be seen as all the more appalling.

The

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110Mill headline that the Council emphasised in its own press release and that was then so shamefully adopted by some local print media, really lowers the standard of discussion. No-one seriously suggested a tunnel and the (exaggerated) estimated cost of this Aunt Sally is more than 10 times any other option. (There is some graffiti circulating that uses the same methodology to suggest that the completion costs of the Rotherwas Relief Road have now soared to

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1.1Bill.)

The consideration of diverting the road to the north or south is pointless at this stage since the extent of the Ribbon is not known. But it is interesting to note that, if this were known to avoid the Ribbon it could be achieved for less than

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10 Mill . Once the significance of the Ribbon is known, it may well be possible for one or more wealthy benefactors or organisations to put up half or more of that money. The recommended option is ruling out any attempt to achieve that. It confirms very starkly that there has been no serious wish to come to terms with the Ribbon but just a desperate haste to get on with the road before an even greater number of Hereford people realise that it is a thoroughly inappropriate waste of money anyway.

DEMOCRACY

We would not argue that every elected body should always seek to carry out the day to day wishes of the majority of its electors. Some campaigners may favour perpetual referenda and others may not. On the other hand, we take it as axiomatic that a local authority should place very great weight on public opinion clearly and persistently expressed. Other than a handful of Rotherwas business owners and the anecdotal offerings of one or two South Wye councillors, there is no evidence that the public would support option F. On the contrary, there is very strong evidence that

a. the Ribbon should take precedence over the road and

b. the road has little support on its own merits anyway.

Our most recent experience is that of petition gathering in the centre of Hereford. This has produced a situation where at least two thirds of those contacted have supported a call for the road to be stopped permanently.

We would point out that opinion in Bromyard, Leominster, Ledbury, Ross, Kington and their surrounding villages is likely to be even stronger.

It is hardly the case that the road is a new issue and that people have not yet had time to absorb the Council’s position.

OPTIONS

Many of our supporters would want the Cabinet to decide today that the road should be abandoned, ie option E. But our steering group believe that the most reasonable course at this stage would be option G. Of course this Option might well be a lot less than a 6 months delay. It is pretty obvious that costs per month would increase over time and we therefore suggest that a, say, 3 month delay would cost a lot less than half the cost of a six month delay. We also note that there appears to be no detail whatsoever supporting the estimate of

￡

430K.

Option G would :-

a. allow further time for archaeological investigation (which we understand may undermine some of our own arguments but may equally strengthen them. It would certainly, we believe, lead to a more legitimate final decision.);

b. allows time for English Heritage to decide on Scheduling

c. enable research into the possible cultural, scientific, educational, tourist and other economic benefits of ‘showcasing’ the Ribbon in a wider heritage context;

d. establish whether or not diversions to the north or south were practical and provide time to refine the cost estimates. This would also provide a space to test whether local, national or international bodies were prepared to fund the additional cost;

e. it would avoid leaving a lasting impression that this whole matter had been driven by undue haste. It is absolutely clear to us that the way this issue is being handled cannot be detached from growing concern about the nature of the governance of Herefordshire. Burying the archaeological find will not bury this argument, it will escalate it. Whatever the fine detail of constitutional interpretation (and we believe that elected members are relying on increasingly dubious guidance) the public will find it incredible that such a momentous decision could be made without a vote of the full Council. (And we find it equally extraordinary that, given how seldom these meetings take place, the date of the next full council meeting in November has been moved forward.) We strongly urge that a special meeting should now be arranged regardless of what happens in the “call in” process.

URGENT! URGENT! Cabinet Meeting – 6th September 2.00pm

2007-08-30T18:59:00.000+01:00

Shockingly (but predictably) the Cabinet of Herefordshire Council are proposing to rush through a decision at this meeting to PROCEED WITH THE ROAD OVER THE RIBBON, following a hurriedly cobbled together assessment of 'alternative' options. The report is rushed, ill-informed and badly biased.

Please also see this news item of earlier today: "Cost of saving stones 'ludicrous".

It is essential that there is a large lobby of this meeting to demonstrate the strength of feeling that there is about this. We will lobby on 6th September from 1.30pm onwards. Please turn up and bring others if you possibly can. The meeting is at Brockington, 35, Hafod Road, Hereford.

We would also encourage you to attend the meeting and simply to listen, whilst showing your support for the Campaign (wear a Brown Ribbon) – information can be collated & shared afterwards.

We still hope that the Council has the capacity to realise the enormous interest in the Rotherwas Ribbon and, far from being a negative find, that it could been seen as positive with hopefully prosperous discovery benefits.

MORE DETAILED ANALYSIS OF THE REPORT TO CABINET WILL FOLLOW SHORTLY.

Public Meeting: 7th September

2007-08-30T18:58:00.000+01:00

We are holding another public meeting. This will be at the Friend’s Meeting House, 21 King St, Hereford, at 7pm on 7th September.

Print your own leaflet!

2007-08-30T18:57:00.000+01:00

You can download and print copies of the latest campaign leaflet here. Please print and distribute as many as you can to friends, shops, businesses etc.

Campaign Office

2007-08-30T18:56:00.000+01:00

We now have a campaign office at Café Green, St Owens St. This is staffed by volunteers and should be regularly open 12 – 2pm Wednesdays, Thursdays & Fridays. The telephone number is 01432 267550 (extension 220). Our aim is that it be a place for supporters to call in, to collect information or even to say hello.

We hope eventually for the office to be staffed at least five days a week, 12- 2pm, with the eventual aim of the office being open as much as possible.
If you can help with this, for one or two hours a week – please contact our Administrator, Barbara Bromhead-Wragg (she is in the office on Wednesdays 12 –2pm).

Café Green has also kindly agreed to donate a small percentage, of sales made in the café, to the campaign. To this end, we ask that, if you choose to do so, please ask for a till receipt and then pass this on to the campaign office.

Mail drop

2007-08-30T18:54:00.001+01:00

Those of you on email will already have received a message, asking for volunteers to print copies of this newsletter and deliver it to addresses, for whom we do not have email contact – we are trying to keep costs down as much as possible.

To comply with the Data Protection Act, we have only passed addresses (no names) to the people willing to deliver to a specific area. If you are receiving this through your door, this is why it is addressed to the occupier.

Funds

2007-08-30T18:54:00.000+01:00

We still need funds, urgently, for printing, mailing, advertising, venue hires and much more. Please send to: Peter Cocks, 34, St Clares Court, Lower Bullingham, Hereford HR2 6PY.

Cost of saving stones 'ludicrous'

2007-08-30T15:07:00.000+01:00

A council's claim that taxpayers could be hit with a £110m bill to safeguard a 4000-year-old group of stones has been labelled "ludicrous and misleading".

Herefordshire Council said £110m was the figure it had been quoted for the cost of building a tunnel underneath the Rotherwas Ribbon. The feature was unearthed by workmen building a relief road in Hereford.

Campaigner Bob Clay said the figure was "extraordinary" and claimed the council was trying to mislead the public.

Read the full story on the BBC website.