This is my report submitted for the February 2026 Magpie
Last week I was happy to show the Head of Herefordshire’s Safer Nighbourhood Team (from West Mercia Police) around Weobley. In particular looking at low level annoyances; parking issues, litter, and showing him the parts of Weobley particularly affected by anti-social behaviour. We were joined by the new PC for the area – and with specific focus on Weobley - Stephen Thomas. Although this isn’t going to mean we have regular “bobbies on the beat”, I am assured that doubling the number of “cops” means more time and resource is available for investigating crime – for example the deeply unnecessary toppling of the Christmas Tree on Boxing Day.
Works on flood mitigation continue, working closely with the “FLAG” group. In particular, I am delighted to see increased work on clearing drains and gullies of leaves and so on. Outside Chapel Orchard has been a particular bugbear of mine.
The success of the “Dartnell crossing” bridge is to be followed with a smaller bridge just above the church, and also I’m delighted that in concert with Dilwyn Parish Council, where another will be installed, we are seeing this innovation rolling out around the county. It’s been hard work, but the cost savings are huge, and I am committed to helping get all those footpaths around Herefordshire as a whole serviceable, for ourselves, and also for tourism.
I continue to work on the traffic calming and road safety scheme, in particular looking at the safety issues around the school, including a road crossing and the crossing at Gadbridge road (ensuring that cars can’t park across it). The police visit was very fruitful on working out what can be done and maintained. I’ve also asked for the flashing lights at the school to be repaired - they seem to have been inactive for some time.
Our contractors have been busy with the remedial work after the A4112 closure, most notably in Fields Place Lane, around the Homme, and Gadbridge Road. We’ve also been working with landowners to the opportunity to address some more drainage issues while roads are resurfaced. There will be further work later in the year, when weather allows.
Beyond this, I’ve recommended a number of roads for repair; most notably the long overdue works in Burtonwood, and the B4230 to Norton Canon.
The news from Herefordshire council continues to be dominated by cost concerns, as Westminster focuses funding away from rural areas. It is outrageous, scant reward for the turnaround of the Herefordshire finances over the last few years, and there will be consequences to what we can deliver, especially as most of the council spending is on statutory, ie non-discretionary, services. We are currently working through the budget, and I am extremely keen to keep the grant scheme that allow parish councils to do work on the ditches, hedges, footpaths etc.
But this means that again – despite us delivering savings in our operational activity, council tax will have to go up again this year. I am extremely disappointed by this and continue to resist the default assumption that it will go up each year.
However there are lots of bits of good news coming through – the highlight being the huge turnaround in Children’s Services, which only a few years ago was at risk of being “taken over” by central government given the failings in it. It has now been awarded a “Good” status, with leadership scored “Outstanding”. I’ve seen the hard work that went into that from the staff all the way through to the Cabinet Member and Leader, and it is a worthy recognition of a turn around of a vital service.
We also have confirmed who will take over from Balfour Beatty. The new firm is M Group, but the most important point is that when they take over in the summer, they will be working on a different basis from the current contract, which will give us much better control as to what is done. To change the operating model was an early decision after the local elections in 2023, but has taken a while to come through; I’m excited to see the benefits coming on-line.
I can’t close without mentioning Hamnet! As I write this, we know about the success in the Golden Globes, and hope that this – and maybe Oscar success as well? – will help bring more tourism to Herefordshire and Weobley. I’m unapologetic about it, but tourism is a vital source of income for the county; with the industry already worth five times all the council tax we collect. I’ve also made the importance of Weobley for tourism a key point in arguing for the works to the B4230.
Being the Magpie, this report covers issues for Weobley, as well as the broader Herefordshire Council picture. For details of projects and casework elsewhere in my ward, see updates in the Dilwynner and Pyonear, or of course here
Please do get in touch if there’s anything I can help with, or even something you would just like to discuss. I can be contacted on 07884 268624 or [email protected] While I do urge you to follow me on Facebook for updates, please don’t message me via Facebook Messenger – there are clear examples of some of those not going through.