Comment and editorial pieces
Ellie Chowns Herefordshire Council Housing
13 August 2018 by
Ellie Chowns wins cross-party support for proposal setting out green principles for £40 million investment On 13 July 2018 Herefordshire County Councillors voted unanimously in favour of Ellie’s motion for a ‘Sustainable Development Partnership’. The decision shapes the strategic direction of £40 million of Council investment in new housing and industrial sites – the biggest […]
Read more »
Comment Hereford & South Herefordshire Jeremy Milln Transport
30 July 2018 by
The correspondence below illustrates how public support for the Hereford Bypass is being mis-represented. Our position is that the recent consultation showed that only 41% of the public who took part want a Bypass. And some of the 41% may have been saying Yes to an Eastern Bypass. By ‘working the numbers’ Herefordshire Council wants […]
Ellie Chowns
26 June 2018 by
My next informal ward surgery will be on Monday 2 July from 10am to midday at Storridge Village Hall (NOT 25 June as previously advertised). I’ll be at the Cradley Fete on Saturday 30 June of course, so if you’re not able to come to Storridge on Monday week, do catch me in Cradley this […]
Ellie Chowns Herefordshire Council North Herefordshire
13 June 2018 by
Last week I spent half a day looking at road safety issues in the ward with Ian Connolly, who is the Traffic Management Advisor for the West Mercia Police Safer Roads Team. Issues we discussed (with site visits) included: 1. Extending the Fromes Hill 40mph speed limit further west to the laybys – we did […]
30 May 2018 by
Last Friday’s Annual Meeting of Herefordshire Council (25 May 2018) approved various positive changes to the Constitution. One very good set of changes will improve the process for public questions: the word limit per question has been doubled to 140, the six-questions-per-person-per-year limit has been changed to one-question-per-person-per-meeting, and responses to questions will now be […]
Comment Transport
7 May 2018 by
Toni Fagan’s article in the May 2018 edition of The Hedge. Are we really going to build the Hereford Bypass through such a special landscape and ruin it forever? Wye Ruin It? Sometimes – often, we don’t realise what we have lost until it is gone. With this thought nagging me like a tired child I […]
Ellie Chowns North Herefordshire
2 May 2018 by
First of all big thanks to everyone who helped with newsletter distribution recently – great to have you as part of the team. I held another surgery in Cradley last week – non-stop visits from residents for 2 hours; really good to meet so many people. Lots of issues raised regarding highways; I’ve followed up […]
15 April 2018 by
On 26 March, I held my first ‘ward surgery’ at Bishops Frome Village Centre. This was a bit of an experiment. Many thanks to Godfrey, Tony and Robin who came along for a chat and a cuppa. We inspected some potholes and drainage issues in the village, and collected a bagful of litter while we […]
Climate change Richard Priestley Transport
3 March 2018 by
Many countries are now setting themselves the goal of moving from petrol and diesel powered transportation systems to very much cleaner technologies. The UK, like many countries has set itself the goal of banning sales of new fossil fuelled vehicles by 2040. Norway plans to do so by 2025. Many people still don’t seem to […]
Edward Milford Hereford & South Herefordshire National and global
27 February 2018 by
Letter from Edward Milford in The Guardian 26 Feb 2018 Owen Jones misunderstands the fundamental philosophy of the Green party. We have an overall goal that is to allow all of humanity to thrive, democratically, while making only sustainable use of the planet’s resources. Under this overarching approach, a fairer distribution of resources (which some […]
Europe Immigration Robert Milne
4 February 2018 by
Robert Milne joined the Ecology Party in 1979, graduated in soil science in 2006, and published a book on organic vegetable gardening in 2010. He campaigns for food gardening to be brought into the school curriculum, and as you’ll see, has strong views on Brexit. What do you think? BREXIT If you have a medical […]
Ellie Chowns Herefordshire Council streets Transport
2 February 2018 by
Potholes and other road-related issues are high up my list of priorities at the moment, as residents often contact me about them. I have to admit I’m rather frustrated that we still don’t have a Balfour Beatty (BBLP) locality steward for the ward – I’ve got an ever-growing list of issues to take up with […]
Hereford & South Herefordshire Rob Palgrave Transport
1 February 2018 by
Road building is seldom off the agenda at Herefordshire Council meetings, and last month (January) the controversial subject of ‘The Bypass’ got a really thorough airing. On one side we had the Council (or perhaps, rather the Cabinet) who want a sort of M25 for Hereford. On the other was a determined group of activists […]
Ellie Chowns Herefordshire Council Public services
My first full Council meeting was last Friday, and it had a full agenda: setting the 2018/19 budget (including the proposed 4.9% rise in Council Tax) and approving the Capital Programme, as well as approving the continuation of the Council Tax reduction scheme. I voted for the latter, but did not feel able to support […]
31 January 2018 by
I met the Head of Highways, Clive Hall, last Friday, which was very helpful. One of the things we talked about was learning lessons from the A4103 resurfacing road closures in autumn 2017. Clive explained some of the background (including the delays due to the unexpected General Election purdah period), and I made two main […]
Housing Press releases Rob Palgrave
25 January 2018 by
Ellie Chowns Herefordshire Council
23 January 2018 by
Other news from the past week: I’ve completed my official induction – lots of useful briefing meetings with officers from all parts of the council, although rather surprisingly not with anyone from Highways, which is one of the issues that ward residents contact me about most often. So, I’ve arranged my own meeting with the […]
22 January 2018 by
Today I went to a briefing on Hereford’s planned new University, www.nmite.org.uk, given by Prof Janusz Kozinski, the CEO. It’s an ambitious plan – to create a completely new, engineering-focused University, with a project-based, problem-solving approach to teaching and learning. As a University teacher myself (currently working at the Uni of Bath) there’s lots about […]
12 January 2018 by
I’ve been in post as Ward Councillor for Bishops Frome and Cradley for about 6 weeks now, and it’s been a busy time, Christmas and New Year notwithstanding (Happy 2018 everyone!). In addition to a series of formal induction meetings and training sessions, I’ve been busy learning about Council business in a range of other […]
25 November 2017 by
A remarkable result, representing a 14% swing from the Conservatives who had held the seat in 2015 in a two way contest. Ellie Chowns, Green Party: 471 Conservative: 299 Lib Dem: 251 Labour: 19 Herefordshire now has FOUR Green County councillors. Reactions: Caroline Lucas tweeted: Absolutely brilliant news! Huge congratulations to the wonderful Ellie Chowns […]
economy Press releases Rob Palgrave
20 October 2017 by
Full text: Apart from the Greens, all political parties say economic growth is essential. And many Councils, like Herefordshire, list economic growth among their key objectives. What do we mean by economic growth? If we mean an end to poverty and inequality – a fairer share of wealth for everyone, then good. If we simply […]
Ellie Chowns Herefordshire Council North Herefordshire Transport
16 October 2017 by
From Dr Ellie Chowns (Green Party), Bishop’s Frome & Cradley Ward 16 October 2017 Dear Councillor Johnson, Re: Road closures for resurfacing work on the A4103 I will shortly be a candidate in the Herefordshire Council by-election at Bishop’s Frome & Cradley and I have been busy talking to residents about their concerns. Without a […]
Comment economy Transport
21 August 2017 by
Letter to Hereford Times 17 August 2017 Startling claim MR A W Johnson, leader of Herefordshire Council writes about the need for a Hereford bypass (letters column July 13 ) citing as reasons, future traffic management and opening up the space for 6,500 houses and businesses which must be built by 2030. He goes […]
Diana Toynbee Diana Toynbee for Hereford Transport
Letter to Hereford Times 17 August 2017 River’s role THERE are interesting links to be made between recent items in the Hereford Times. The river party ‘Wye Float’, and Herefordshire Lore’s new project ‘River Voices: Stories from the Wye’ are just two examples of the central role this beautiful river plays in our lives. And […]
