In the early hours of Monday morning, activists appalled at the crackdown on homeless beggars and the council’s lack of action to create badly needed new homes seized one of Birmingham’s 11,000[4] empty properties. The group calling themselves Birmingham Tenants and Homeless Action Group issued a statement on their website[1] condemning the City Council for failing [...]

It’s a year on from the riots that swept across the country and some interesting statistics have been released. A total of 1,292 naughty boys and girls have been jailed for their part in the riots, out of over 3,000 prosecuted. The average custodial sentence was 16.8 months, four times higher than the average term dished out [...]

The latest issue of the Hereford Heckler, and the last in its current format, is now available online and will soon be hitting the streets. This issue includes; An exclusive article on the council sell-off of all its service Taxpayers to pay for £27m new road Child poverty ‘significant issue’ for Herefordshire ‘We’re back!’ – the [...]

Americans who live in cul-de-sacs are around 2.7 kg (6lbs) fatter than those living elsewhere, according to Wikipedia. The reason: they have to use their cars more. Expect the average Herefordian to gain weight as more traditional public rights of way (let’s abbreviate to PROW) are nicked. Every time a PROW closes the citizenry have [...]

The battle lines have been drawn in two local towns over plans to build new supermarkets. Both Hay-on-Wye and Ledbury are currently in the midst of hard debate, with plans to build the new supermarkets bringing out those both for and against. In August of last year, Powys Council revealed plans to sell Hay-on-Wye Primary School to [...]

Only a day before the planning application was due to be decided, Tesco have decided to shelve their controversial plans for an out-of-town superstore in Ledbury. Tesco, which already has a store in the town, applied for planning permission for another town near the town’s bypass back in July. However, opposition was hot on its heels, [...]

Herefordshire families are faced with ‘unrealistic and unaffordable’ rent costs, a new report has revealed. The report, recently conducted by housing charity Shelter, names the county as the most expensive area to privately rent in the whole West Midlands region. Private tenants spend an average of 40% of their earnings on rent, with the area’s low wages [...]

Up to 150 people joined a protest against the planned Tesco superstore in Ledbury last Thursday (18th). The large crowd gathered at the Market House in the town centre to hold a ‘silent lobby’ of a meeting by Ledbury Town Council. The newly renamed ‘Ledbury Opposes Out of Town Superstores’ protest group called the lobby with [...]

A list of articles on last weeks riots written from an anarchist perspective can be found here. There’s also a very interesting and in-depth analysis of the causes and consequences of the riots from the Irish anarchist organisation, Workers Solidarity Movement.

Wherever Tesco goes there seems to be controversy, with numerous high-profile campaigns against its seemingly never-ending expansion. From Tenbury Wells to Stokes Croft in Bristol, local organisations have been lining up against the company, and Ledbury looks set to be the next battleground. Tesco are planning to move their store in the town from its [...]