Another Wednesday, another new edition of The Ross Gazette. Just some of the stories: ‘Lidl plans new store for Ross’, ‘St Mary’s Church spire requires urgent repairs’, ‘High Court battle over pollution of River Wye’, ‘Council tax set to rise 5% amid cuts to funding’, ‘Merrivale Wood for sale at £90,000’.

What have all these stories have in common ? Well, one common thread is money and finance. Lidl presumably have enough to build a new shop, St Mary’s don’t have enough, someone has to pay to clean up the Wye, the government has taken away yet more money from Herefordshire Council and Herefordshire Wildlife Trust don’t have enough money either !

I’m assuming Lidl are looking at the possibility of Ross growing substantially in the future and wanting to sell things to those new residents and of course make a profit. That’s understandable when the current government has imposed housing targets on Herefordshire which might mean that Ross is down for another 3.000-odd houses over the next twenty years.

St Mary’s church has discovered a severe problem with the church tower pinnacles, which will cost hundreds of thousands of pounds. I declare an interest on this one, I am on the Friends of St Mary’s committee which raises money to repair the fabric of this Grade 1 listed building. If you would like to help, email [email protected].

The High Court is set to witness an exercise in mutual blame-evasion as various bodies seek to pass on the responsibility for the Wye to others. Welsh Water, as well as chicken processing companies, all deny any legal responsibility.

Finally, Merrivale Wood – has any one got the odd £90,000 lying around ? If so, you need to get your skates on, the deadline for getting in your bid is the 30th October !