District Council Results September 2021

 

There appears to have been a historically low turnout at 28*%.  Either the voters have become completely disenfranchised or totally apathetic. 

The conservatives have misjudged the mood of the traditional Tory Tenbury electorate by fielding a candidate that lived in Malvern rather than Tenbury whilst Labour and Lib Dems continue to offer no credible candidates or policies.

Despite this expensive and somewhat pointless exercise in local democracy the residents of Tenbury should benefit from having a local councillor well versed in the frustrating and at time incomprehensible ways of the District Council. 

*Turnout
2011 53.2%
2007 53.2%
2003 45.7%
1997 79.3%

Free parking in Tenbury over Christmas period

Following recent pressures affecting the national economy and reports from local businesses about a slow down in trade, Malvern Hills District Council will be providing free car parking concessions in the week before Christmas.

From the 19^th to the 24^th December, pay and display charges will be waived in its car parks

Councillor Paul Cumming, Portfolio Holder for Finance & Resources at MHDC said:

“This council considers the support of local business and the local economy to be a priority and we are keen to assist local traders who have reported generally sluggish sales. We want to help give trade a boost and encourage more people to shop in our towns in the week leading up to Christmas. “

Tenbury to get a makeover

In a surprising development Worcester County Council have announced that Tenbury is at the top of their list for the next round of Public Realm makeovers.

Tenbury Civic Society & Tenbury Area Partnership along with the Town Council have been lobbying Worcester County Council for a number of years to make improvements to the street scene in Tenbury.

Alan Eachus who is the Civic Society representative on the Tenbury Area Partnership commented " Peter Blake from WCC announced that money was now available for a PR (Public Realm) scheme and works to the bridge. This of course is great news for the town and the County are keen to proceed as fast as possible. It’s been hard work getting to this stage but I remain very positive!"

Tony Penn, the Town & District Council's representative on the Tenbury Area Partnership, announced the news to the Tenbury Town Council on Monday night. He said that the improvements could start within 18 months and will include the Bridge Works.  Other improvements will include alterations to the pavements, road resurfacing and street signs and furniture.


Shropshire Star 

Malvern Hills District Council - Financial Crisis

Malvern Hills District Council faces a 26.85% reduction in funding over the next two years.

This means that they have to find savings of £1.3 million pounds.

As MHDC is already extremely efficient in financial terms, the only place left to cut is front line services, such as rubbish collections, road sweeping or toilet cleaning.

As they are unable to increase the Council Tax, they will also have to look at other ways of raising funds such as increasing Car Parking charges.

Leader of the Council, Phil Grove, has set up an urgent meeting in London next week with Eric Pickles, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, to explain that it would be almost impossible to achieve these savings without affecting  front line services.

Malvern Hills District Council Budget Consultation

Yesterday, MHDC held their annual Tenbury Roadshow, to an almost empty hall.

Tenbury Business's had been invited by an email that said.

We have a vision of a district, which has first class services and facilities, is clean, safe, healthy and prosperous and has vibrant and active communities.

As a valued member of our business community we would really like to hear your views on how we propose to spend your money in 2010/11 towards making that vision a reality.

Only two people turned up. One a Town Councillor who also runs a small business and is linked to two others, and me!

This did give us a good opportunity to discuss at length various local issues, but none that is really worth expanding on at this point.

It is a shame that despite the obvious effort of the District Council to include Tenbury in their consultations, that so few people get involved. I can only assume that either everyone is too busy, or they are entirely happy with how Malvern runs the District.

MHDC Budget Meeting

A good (by Tenbury standard) turnout of local residents met with Serena Croad the Leader of MHDC and others to discuss the proposed 2.95% increase in the budget.

Various subjects were discussed, including MHDCs £140,000 a year support of the Malvern Theatre, and the perceived lack of local financial support in Tenbury. The apparent lack of progress on developing the Tenbury Business Park. Concerns about the concessionary bus far scheme and the lack of joined up local public transport.

29% of Malvern's budget comes via the Council Tax, 38% from Central Government and 33% from other activities such as car parks, etc. Over 50% of the money raised is spent on salaries.

£570,000 is now spent on the Concessionary Fares scheme of which only 30% is Government Funded. Great concern was raised from the floor about how this is audited and accounted for.

It was also noted that NO Town Councillors attended the meeting.

Freeze on Car Park Charges

Today's Tenbury Advertiser carries an article about the Freezing of the Tenbury Car Parking charges for the next year. (Originally anounced here on Tuesday, 2 December 2008.)

It also claims that Malvern Hills District Council raises £200,000 from Car Parking Charges. What is doesn't say is that the Car Park at Tenbury only raises £18,000 per year, and much of the money raised goes in administration and maintenance costs running the ticketing and cash collection service.

Concessionary Bus Passes cripples Council

The National Concessionary Travel Scheme, is now costing Malvern Hills District Council in excess of £400,000 per year, of which only £100,000 is recoverable from Central Government.

Whilst the National Concessionary Travel Scheme has been an overwhelming success with journeys travelled in the Malvern Hills area up from 182,000 in 2006-07 to 440,000 in 2007-8, the cost of paying for this increase is crippling Council Finances.

Payment for the scheme has to be met either by increased Council Tax Charges or budget reductions in other areas.

Free Parking in Tenbury

Malvern Hills DC have announced that they will allow Free Parking in their Tenbury Wells Car Park on 12th, 13th, 19th and 20th December 2008.

MHDC have decided not to reduce Car Parking charged following the reduction in VAT, but to allow additional free parking.

They are also hoping to announce no increases in Car Parking charges during 2009.

It has been estimated that the Tenbury Wells Car Park is revenue neutral, and MHDC could allow free car parking in Tenbury with no overall loss of revenue, but they have refused to move from their policy of treating all their car parks the same. MHDC make significant profits from some of their car parks.

Tenbury Wells, is in competition with Leominster where parking is now free.

MHDC in charge confusion

A local business appears to have been charged in the region of £300 by MHDC to ascertain whether they need to spend £300 on a planning application.

This sound similar to Business Link paying a consultant £350 + Vat to turn down a Training Grant application for £400!

Government agency red tape, don't you just love it!

Cattle Market Car Park to CLOSE!

Although not the best car parking facility in town, the cattle market car park usually contains 40 to 50 cars a day.  Some are shop staff and others are 'short stop' shoppers.

News that this privately owned facility is to be closed from 9 am on Sunday until further notice is yet another blow to the already struggling retail centre.  It will also impact on the parking available for Applefest and the Mistletoe Fayre.

Malvern Hills District Council have consistently refused to make their car park behind the library free of charge, even though the cost of running and enforcing the ticketing system makes the car park 'revenue natural'.

Although the fees are not very high by national standards,  if all you want to do is post a letter, then they add considerably to the postage cost!

If you have concerns about this or any other local issue, the District Councillors Phil Grove and Tony Penn are available, (by appointment) this Friday from 5.30 to 6.30 in the library.  Call in to book an appointment or phone 01684 862 151.

Wall work to start

The much delayed work to restore the Market Street Wall demolised by a flash flood in 2007 starts next Monday.
Local contractor, Alun Griffiths Civil Engineering, have committed to finishing the work by Christmas.

Two way temporary traffic signals will be in operation, throughout the duration of the works but WCC have asked that they be withdrawn when possible.

MHDC Conservation Officer has specified that the new brickwork and coping stones should match the original wall with as many stones as possible being recovered from the brook and reused.

The initial phase of the work will be to stabilise the bank, which was weakened and damaged by the over enthusiastic, and some would say, unnecessary demolition of the late Victorian toilet block also damaged by flood water.

Tenbury Advertiser Article
Letter to Tenbury Advertiser

Bag Free Tenbury

Malvern Hills District Council are supporting a campaign to make Tenbury Wells Bag Free. They will encourage traders to only issue 'long life' or biodegradable bags. Anyone seen with a carrier bag will be tarred and feathered. This initiative follows on from other campaigns being run in various towns nationwide, and across the world.

I am still undecided whether this idea really makes sense and is worth all the effort and possibly the expense and inconvenience.

On a world basis, discarded plastic bags are a menace. They pollute the country side, take ages to degrade, and are a danger to wildlife.

The reason I have this slightly uneasy feeling about this campaign is that I feel it is tokenism, an easy band waggon to join, and diverts the need to do anything really meaningful.

I have been a proponent of green living and recycling for many years, back beyond the launch of Agenda 21, but I still have this slightly uncomfortable feeling about a campaign that make pariahs out of anyone who dares to ask for a bag to take home their shopping.

The plastic carrier bag is after all, recyclable, so it is not the bag that is the problem, but what people do with them when they get them home. If you shop at Tesco and other main supermarkets you can return the bags for recycling, even the home delivery service will take back your bags. Why doesn't Malvern Hills District Council and others allow the bags to be included in the recyclable items they collect from your doorstep? (Update 2/6/08. MHDC will collect Carrier Bags and a much wider range of recyclable items from Summer 2009)

As households we generate far greater quantities of non-recyclable materials than carrier bags. The past few years has seen a massive increase in the sales of pro-biotic drinks and yoghurts. Most of these are sold in plastic containers that cannot be recycled and all go to landfill where they take for ever to rot down.

Why not encourage or enforce the manufacturers of these products to use recyclable containers?

I look forward to seeing how this campaign develops, but as yet I am not convinced, but in the meantime I will carry on using the only free gift I ever received from MHDC.

Click here to read "Is Recycling a Waste of Time?"

Tenbury Wells Tourist Information Centre

Question 1. On which day of the week do most visitors come to Tenbury?

Answer: Saturday

Question 2. On which day of the week do MHDC hold most (all?) the Tenbury Wells Festivals?

Answer: Saturday

Question 3. On which day of the week does the Tenbury Wells Tourist Information Centre shut early?

Answer: Saturday!

Tenbury WHUB - 20K under budget

The banner headline story in the Tenbury Wells Advertiser on 19th April read "Information hub open - 20k under budget.

The article went on to inform that the £260,000 project was delivered £20,000 under budget.

What it didn't say was that large parts of the project were scrapped because the project was running over budget! If all the planned work had been done then the project would have caused a massive overspend.

So what did the money actually buy?

* A couple of very small meeting rooms
* A lift
* The moving of a partition wall
* A reduction in the available library space

Is this best value? Is this really an asset?

Is it any wonder that people have such little regard for their Council.

And it still closes on Wednesday!

Tenbury TIC stays put - even longer!

In what may be seen by some as a surprising move, the Tenbury Wells Tourist Information Centre, which had originally been earmarked to move in the the Library following the construction of the WHUB has now applied to have their lease extended for another 18 months instead of the usual 12?

Tenbury TIC stays put!

In a rather surprising move, cash strapped MHDC have decided to renew their lease for the Tourist Information Centre at 47 Teme Street and not move it to the space provided for it at the new and very expensive WHUB extension to the Library.

In a recent survey Tenbury TIC ranked badly against both the Worcestershire Market Town average and the national Market Towns average, in all three catagories; Ease of Finding, Quality of Service and usefulness of information received.

Town Council - No Comment

Tenbury Town Council have instructed their Clerk to reply to all enquiries that they are unable to comment about the proposed Tenbury Biomass Power Plant.

Until a formal planning application is submitted and referred to the Council for comment they must remain impartial.

It was also reported that the planning application was returned to the developer by MHDC as the developer had not paid the planning fee. Whether or not the developer had been given advice about the shortcomings of the application is unclear.

Unofficially at least one Councillor is pro-the Biomass project, some are anti, and the others undecided.

In an unrelated matter, the Council voted to remove a negative reference to small Biomass Power Generation Plants from a report to be submitted to the West Midlands Spatial Review.

Biomass Plans Withdrawn

The Tenbury Wells Biomass Plan has been withdrawn by the Developer CJ Day Associates, but only temporarily, pending further Government legislation.

Although local opposition remains strong, Worcester County Council in partnership with Malvern Hills District Council and Advantage West Midlands are still pursuing the building of this Power Station in a totally unsuitable site.

The main reason for this policy is not because of it's green credentials, but as a box ticking exercise. Worcester County want to appear to be carbon neutral and by placing a Biomass Power Station on this site they can go a long way towards this claim, and because unlike almost any other site in the county they can do it virtually cost free due to grant aid.

Although financially this makes sense to the Council and helps Malvern Hills District Council diverse themselves of yet another Tenbury Wells asset, the final cost may be a political one. The Tenbury area has in recent times voted for Conservative representatives on both the District and County Councils and returned a Conservative MP. With the majority of the towns population against the Biomass Plan, then the likely benefactors will be the Liberal Democrats.

Harriett Baldwin & George Lord at the proposed Biomass Power Station site, Tenbury Wells. Both potential losers in the political fallout if the project goes ahead.

For full details see Shropshire Star

Pump Rooms Sell Off

The long expected news that Malvern Hills District Council have disposed of yet another council owned asset in Tenbury Wells hit the press this week.

The Pump Rooms future has been in some doubt after the District Council moved their local office out of the Pump Rooms and into the hugely expensive extension to the library.

Although the District Council would have found it very difficult to sell the Historic Monument after they had been granted so much money from various public funds to restore it, their policy of disposing of assets (or as they see it, liabilities) meant that they wanted shot of the responsibility of ongoing maintenance.

It appears that Malvern Hills District Council have given the Pump Rooms to the Town Council (although they retain the right to 50% of the proceeds if the Town Council sell it).

The Town Council have not yet officially commented on the transfer as all matters relating to the Pump Rooms have been held in private session.

If the news is correct, then lets hope that the Town Council can run the Pump Rooms at a sufficient profit so that it doesn't become a mill stone around their financially bereft neck! Run with vision, then this building could really be the 'Jewell in the Crown' of Tenbury Wells, but do the Town Council possess the necessary skill and acumen to run a Tourist destination.

Worcester Evening News 14/02/08
Worcester Evening News 22/02/08