Herefordshire Council projects in trouble

Several flagship Herefordshire Council projects could be in trouble, according to an internal report.

Among those given a red (“missed target by more than 10 per cent /significant decline”) rating in the report for next week’s cabinet meeting are the preparation of detailed proposals for the £18 million transformation of Hereford Museum and Art Gallery, and the £3.5 million new library and the learning resource centre at Maylord Orchard.

The £21 million market town investment plans to bring forward employment land and to create business incubation space is also flagged up as red – due, it says, to being dependent on the outcome, still to be announced, of the county’s “levelling-up” funding bid to the Government, and also “lack of eligible site proposals” for business incubation.

The council’s planned energy efficiency and renewable heating retrofit programme for 150 homes also gets a red, with an expected underspend of £260,000 “due mainly to lack of take-up from the public and residual effects from pandemic reluctance”.

The council says it aims to overcome this with “an increased focus on publicity to overcome trust/confidence issues with target audience”.

On transport, the council “urgently needs to take decisions” on long-awaited work to address the trip hazard kerbs on Hereford’s Widemarsh Street, as meeting the grant funding timescales for this work “will now be very challenging”.

Work to create 20mph zones in towns and villages around the county suffers from “resource issues around delivery”, while a plan to improve the county’s public rights of way service also earns a red.

Also, unsurprisingly in light of this week’s “inadequate” Ofsted rating for its children’s services, measures for this department also garner red flags.

The report says between April and June, just 39 per cent of children received social care services after an assessment, and 57 per cent of child and family assessments were completed within statutory timescales.

In the same time period, the council did manage to deliver 100 affordable houses, but did not bring any empty properties back in to use.