Cathedral Ward Worcester City

New play area and telescope feature in park overhaul Andrew Warren 27 October. Updated: 27 October 07:55 A BRAND new play area and a high powered telescope offering views of the Malvern Hills and Worcester Cathedral are set to be the centrepieces of a refurbished city park. The Standard previously reported how Worcester City Council had set aside £250,000 from its £1.78million cash surplus to begin renovating Fort Royal Park, which was a key battle site during the English Civil War in 1651. Ward councillor Jabba Riaz had led the calls for a major overhaul of the park, with the support of the Battle of Worcester Society. At a meeting of the council's scrutiny committee on Monday night (October 24), cleaner and greener manager David Sutton revealed up to £110,000 will be used to build the new play area for the park, which will be based on the successful play area in Power Park in St Peter's. Local community groups and schools will be able to have their say on how the area shoul...

Councillor leads bid to restore historic park A COUNCILLOR is spearheading an appeal to breathe new life into an historic Worcester park which is at the very heart of the city's rich Civil War history. Coun Jabba Riaz has joined forces with the Battle of Worcester Society to campaign for major investment in Fort Royal Park off Wylds Lane, which has suffered in recent years due to a lack of investment. The park is situated on one of the key sites of the Battle of Worcester in 1651 - Fort Royal Hill - where Royalist soldiers built a fort to defend the city from the attack of Oliver Cromwell's Parliamentarians. It is also the place where two former American Presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson met in 1786 to look out over the city which they considered to be one of the key battlegrounds for democracy. But despite its great history Fort Royal Park has missed out on the kind of investment which has seen other city parks like Gheluvelt and Cripplegate flourish. It has led t...

Worcester councillor banned from tweeting in meeting Continue reading the main story Related Stories Council to tweet election results Council bans staff from Twitter A Worcester City councillor has complained after being told he could not tweet during an open meeting. Councillor Jabba Riaz, who represents the Cathedral ward, was banned by the mayor, Dr David Tibbutt, from updating his micro-blog on Tuesday. Mr Riaz said he believed his freedom of speech had been infringed. A city council spokesman said the request was made because councillors were in a full council meeting which needed their "full attention". 'Not confidential' Mr Riaz said: "I was really upset, outraged my freedom of speech, my voice to the outside world was being stopped. "This is not confidential information, it's important information of what's happening in the city of Worcester and decisions that are being taken that affect the whole city. "It's important as ...

'Chuggers' could face clampdown By Tim Clarke 08/03 Updated: 12/03 10:41 'NUISANCE' charity fund-raisers who approach city centre shoppers could face stricter rules governing their behaviour. Coun Jabba Riaz, chairman of the licensing committee at Worcester City Council, has called for a meeting with local and national charities to discuss the behaviour of so-called 'charity muggers' or 'chuggers' who operate in Worcester. In a letter to the Standard Coun Riaz said he had received reports of people avoiding the city centre for fear of being approached by persistent street fund-raisers. His concerns come in the wake of action taken by Gloucester and Burnley city councils, who have drawn up voluntary agreements with charities stopping fund-raisers from collecting on certain days of the week. Coun Riaz said: "We at Worcester face similar issues where often the High Street on most days has collectors in various forms. I have heard of people who avoi...

Councillor Jabba Riaz welcomes cannabis farm raid - ballot 1:50pm Friday 23rd September 2011 in News By Richard Vernalls , @rvernallsWN #worcsnews FARM: Lighting and heating equipment hangs above part of the haul THIS picture shows part of the massive haul of cannabis plants seized in a police raid after a tip-off by sharp-eyed neighbours. West Mercia Police went to a house in Wyld’s Lane, Worcester, between Dent Close and Vincent Road, on Friday, September 16, and found the property unsecured. Officers found about 500 cannabis plants up to 3ft in height and a range of high-tech equipment used for growing the drug including lamps, insulation and ventilation tubing. No arrests have been made but enquiries are still ongoing.   City councillor Jabba Riaz saw the aftermath of the raid saying it was clear the plants were cannabis. “You could smell it a mile away,” he said. “The police put all the equipment in skips, taking the plants away.” He welcomed the raid but sai...

'It’s no new, modern creation; no complex, mysterious concept; its people helping people for the greater good; its individuals taking more responsibility for themselves and their neighborhoods; its communities being empowered to shape their place, to find and deliver solutions to local challenges together' (1). So why may you ask am I writing this a year on from David Cameron’s Big Society Concept?  I suppose it’s to highlight; that it’s kind of been there all along, in various forms and guises. The Asian community when first arriving to this country were the epitome of the Big Society Concept; ‘as Asian communities have historically lived in extended families that included grandparents, parents, aunties and uncles acting as unpaid nannies and baby sitters for young children; carers for the elderly and guardians of young adults’(2) . The Asian community, to many people may seem closed and misunderstood to the outside world, but underneath that illusion, a whole host of...

I am writing to you regarding Fort Royal Park and it's current state. You may be aware that the park was voted 8th best in the Whole Country by the Independent in 2005. ‘8 Fort Royal Park, Worcester ( http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/the-ten-best-urban-parks-490071.html ) With its hilltop views towards Worcester Cathedral and The Worcester Commandery, this is the perfect park for glorious sunsets. A Civil War battle was fought here, and it is home to Fort Royal, the listed monument that gives the park its name. The fort itself is surrounded by a rose garden and extensive flowerbeds, and there's a playground on the site, so it's all pretty child-friendly’ Add this with the history of the park Fort Royal was a Civil War on a small hill to the southeast of Worcester overlooking the Sidbury Gate. It was built by the Royalists< http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavalier > in 1651 to defend the hill, because during the siege in 1646< http://en.wikipedia.org/wi...