#hertsmere

[dubmill]

London Loop footpath, Carpenders Park, Herts (just north of the border with the London Borough of Harrow); 5.9.2015

[watford-herts-london]

Hertsmere's Welcomes its first openly gay Mayor

Hertsmere Borough Council’s annual meeting yesterday (Wednesday 17 May) saw the passing of the mayoral chains from Councillor John Graham to Councillor Chris Myers. Councillor Richard Butler was also welcomed as the new Deputy Mayor. The new Mayor and Deputy Mayor were inaugurated at a ceremony at Hertsmere Borough Council’s offices in Borehamwood. The ceremony was attended by members of the…

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[watford-herts-london]

Construction starts on new splash zone in Borehamwood.

Construction starts on new splash zone in Borehamwood.

The splash zone in Meadow Park will include 23 in-ground jets from arching features to crawl under to large columns of water to run or jump through. There is also a Hula Spray, which forms a circular water jail, and a number of Hydro Blast’s including a fountain like spray in the centre which reaches 3.5m high – are you brave enough! This addition, combined with the play spaces, creates a great…

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[watford-herts-london]

Construction begins at the site for West Herts Crematorium

Construction begins at the site for West Herts Crematorium

A ground breaking ceremony was held at the site of the new West Herts Crematorium on Tuesday 1st March. Members of the West Herts Crematorium Joint Committee (WHCJC) and Council Leaders, all representing the five local authorities* involved in delivering the project attended. This new facility will be a sister-site to the current West Herts Crematorium in Garston, Watford and is being developed…

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[thejohnfleming]

The Kray Twins book review, setting fire to a politician and saving dirty nappies

The Kray Twins book review, setting fire to a politician and saving dirty nappies

Micky Fawcett (left), with son Michael, at the May Fair hotel

“There’s been a bit of a coincidence,” former Kray Twins associate Micky Fawcett told me at London’s May Fair Hotel yesterday.

In this blog a couple of days ago, Micky was talking about Nipper Read – the policeman who arrested the Kray Twins.

Micky said Nipper “wasstraight. But he weren’t straight with me”. He also mentioned James…

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[mesibot-blog]

Hertsmere Borough Council business rate extortion

As a managing director and entrepreneur I have always believed in paying taxes and business rates as these rates support our community’s vital civic services.  We had to move out of our previous serviced office in Borehamwood last year (12/08/2011) as we ran out of space and needed dedicated, secure and scalable facilities to support the expansion of our award winning digital agency.

The reason for moving out was because the business expanded from 10 people when we originally moved in (22/09/2009) to 22 people end of 2011. Yes, it has been a real success story and the serviced office block was great as it included all business rates inclusive. Six months after (25/01/2012) we moved into our amazing new dedicated block Elstree House, 12 High Street, Elstree we received a demand to pay £3,957.61 for business rates despite the rates being fully inclusive in the serviced office block.

   After several letters to and from Hertsmere Borough Council's Revenue Departments and submitting clear evidence that our business rates were fully inclusive they are constantly threatening us with court action (despite all rates being fully inclusive in our tenancy agreements). It is bizarre how Hertsmere did not send any notifications or statements for business rates during our 3.5 year tenancy period (!) and my company will continue to prove that our agreement with the service office always included business rates.  The question we should ask is why do local authorities spend OUR money on trivial pursuits? 

I will continue to cover this topic on my blog as I think it’s important that other entrepreneurs who may experience similar problems with Hertsmere can share their stories. It would be interesting if local politicians have views on this matter.