After all the self-promoting press releases from Herts County Council over many years, finally an admission of failure, over the queues and early closing of Household Waste sites ('the tips').
Saturday 5th to Sunday 27th - Herts Open Studios - 25th Anniversary Show. A 3 week, county-wide opportunity to see art in action, for free! For more information, call in to the Tring Town Council Information Centre for a leaflet, or contact Herts Visual Arts on 07813 100651 or online at www.hvaf.org.uk
Thank you to everyone who responded to our question about local views on Sunday trading - very interesting range of views. ……………………………………………….. The official opening of Swannells Walk took place last week. These are the new homes built by Watford Community Housing Association on the land behind the Queens Drive. There are 27 new 2 and 3 bedroom rented properties with one fully wheel chair accessible. The new residents seem very pleased with the development. There is also a play facility open to all local young people. Adjacent to the new homes is the new Chorleywood Club which opened last month. It offers splendid community facilities. It is well worth a visit. The whole development is scheduled to be finished by early 2016. ……………………………………………………. We were astonished to learn that road flooding is regarded as a low priority! Ringway (HCC's highways contractor for this area) has stated that a road would have to be impassable for at least 10 hours before any action would be taken. However blocked drains are a
Herts County Council's main Highways contractor, Ringway has been fined £671,546 over the last two full financial years for failing to do the work it was paid for. In figures exposed by Liberal Democrat Leader and Highways Spokesperson, Cllr Stephen Giles-Medhurst, shows that Ringway was fined £421,321 in 2013/14 and another £250,225 in 2014/15.
Tring's Liberal Democrat County Councillor, Nick Hollinghurst, has now picked up his new Nissan Leaf Acenta. After an hour's discussion with the salesman right at the start, a 30-minute test drive for Nick and Rosemarie, his wife, followed by a 24-hour test hiring (nothing to pay) and a final hour of driving instruction and hints, the purchase of an all-electric vehicle is not something you do without a fair amount of thought.
Local Liberal Democrats were dismayed to learn that following inspections by the Quality Care Commission, West Herts Hospitals Trust has been put into "Special Measures". The West Herts Trust runs health services in Watford, Hemel Hempstead and St Albans. Chris White, spokesperson on Health, for the Liberal Democrat Hertfordshire County Council Group said: 'We had suspected for a while that the report would be bad but this is even worse than was feared. 'It is important to put into action a plan for improving the services at the three hospitals and for the public to gain reassurance that the services are on an upwards and not a downwards trajectory. 'Hertfordshire County Council has the role of scrutinising the NHS in Hertfordshire and we will be having a meeting with the inspectors next week where we hope to hear more about how quickly the many failings can be addressed.' He added: 'There has been a long history of management instability at the trust. The most recent full-time chief executive, for instan
