SEVERAL parishioners attended the September meeting of Newton St Cyres Parish Council to support a petition that Cllr Imogen Marshall had compiled asking for a crossing on the A377 at Tytheing Close.

We learnt that some older members of the community were effectively housebound as they could not cross the road to catch the bus.

Devon County Councillor Steve Keable agreed to present the petition to a meeting of the full DCC Council. Cllr Marshall agreed to be there, with perhaps some residents to add weight to the cause.

You may have been cursing yet again about traffic lights at the Tesco roundabout on the A377. However, they were good news!

DCC was surveying the land in order to plan/start the development of the first phase of the Boniface trail cycle and pedestrian path. This will run alongside the A377 from Crediton to Newton St Cyres.

We had a detailed discussion about planning issues and the possibility of development in Newton St Cyres.

Details of this were fully aired here last month, so I won’t repeat them.

The most important outcome is that our revised Community Planning Framework was formally accepted by the Parish Council.

This document, prepared by Cllr Jock Campbell, gives clear indications of the wishes of our local community (assembled from data collected over several years) and also the sites where development would not be appropriate.

If you wish to read it, see the Parish Council website. We hope to meet MDDC’s planning team and present the document. MDDC Cllr Sandy Chenore hopes to facilitate this for us.

The allotments and Arboretum were discussed. We agreed a quote to remove the most dangerous dead elms from the hedge at the bottom of the allotments.

Hopefully this will be done before winter winds pose a problem.

We also hope to get some of the remaining dead elms removed in the next few months.

Cllr Liz Ouldridge has been investigating the possibility of a permissive path across the field alongside the A377 to the allotments.

Currently we are talking to DCC Highways who are responsible for the verge adjacent to the field, as we would need to remove a small amount of mudbank to form an entrance for the path.

For the Arboretum, we agreed the wording of a ‘Code of Conduct’. This will be displayed on new notice boards at either end of the Arboretum.

We also agreed to formulate an agreement that will allow the Friends of the Arboretum to manage the small plot of land adjacent to the graveyard and Arboretum.

This plot will be kept distinct from the rest of the Arboretum as the land belongs to the Parish.

Other topics were discussed and you can read full details in our minutes on our website or come to one of our meetings to see how we work and/or raise an issue.

Our next meeting is on Thursday October 1 at 7pm in the Parish Hall. You can also meet us on the 2nd Saturday of the month at the village coffee morning.

Liz Ouldridge