Ledbury Portal Community Forum

According to this week's Hereford Journal (29.12.10) the new Visit Herefordshire Board have "big plans" to revitalise tourism in Herefordshire.

They believe the county needs a "business-class hotel" - they say this would provide a "taster" on what the county has to offer. How does that work then? Is it a foyer with leaflets pointing suited executives to drink beer at the Barrels or have a dance at the poetry-caleigh at Ledbury's Community Centre?

And who do they think is going to build such a business-class hotel? They don't say.

They also think we need a new "iconic branding" and are going to ask Herefordshire Art students to come up with something. What do they actually mean by this? They want a logo?

I find it interesting that the Visit Herefordshire Board members (all eight of them) that includes a Sir and Loadsamoney Chris Bull (the Council boss) can't actually come up with something themselves. How much do they get paid to depend upon others? How much is Sir Ben Gill getting paid? I asked Herefordshire Council, but they won't tell, they don't want us to know - it's their little secret.

Try this for exec-speak: "It's all about tapering the right packages to meet customer expectations" the Hereford Journal quote Sir Gill. I'm not sure what he means here by 'tapering' maybe he said or meant tayloring, I don't know. But isn't this soft-headed nonsense either way?

You can't sell Herefordshire by pretending it is something it is not - you must play to the county's strengths, not try and trick people into coming here with 'tapered' packages and expectations.

Gill says: "We have to capture people's imaginations" - no, we should market Herefordshire for what it really is and what it actually offers.

It is this kind of skilful Orwellian discourse that endears us our local services bosses and why we secretly pay them so much - I imagine.