AT the start of the December meeting of Newton St Cyres Parish Council tribute was paid to Sir John Quicke who had recently passed away. Councillors agreed that a memorial would be a fitting tribute to Sir John and a collection will be launched in the village for anyone to contribute.

Collection boxes will be placed in the Post Office or contributions can be sent by post to the Chairman of the Parish Council, David Baker at The Sidings, Three Horse Shoes, Cowley, Exeter, EX5 5EU.

The fund will be open for contributions until March 1. The idea is to possibly place a seat in the Arboretum and/or on the Village Green but the council is open to ideas and suggestions.

Police representatives attended the meeting, as did Cllr Michael Lee (DCC) and Cllr Peter Hare-Scott (MDDC. The police reported that they had received 11 calls in the month of November, two of which related to poaching activities.

Residents were asked to be vigilant and report any unusual night-time activity which may relate to poaching.

Devon County Council Highways Department have agreed to clear the blocked drains and sort out the pot-holes in Station Road but the council was informed that the services of the Parish Lengthsman may come to an end. Councillors agreed to lobby DCC for the retention of this important post.

There was good news about a possible car park for the school. A site has been identified and both DCC and MDDC have, so far, agreed that there do not appear to be any problems. The Council agreed to cost out the work needed and apply for planning permission if it was found to be necessary.

The Parish Hall car park had been resurfaced and re-marked with white lines and a new notice board will be erected on the Village Green. A flowering cherry tree has been planted on the Village Green too.

The question of more Affordable Housing for the village had been raised and Catherine Simmons from MDDC will attend the February meeting to talk about this problem. The date for this meeting is Monday, February 1 and interested parishioners are invited to come along and hear what she has to say.

Two councillors and the clerk have sorted through the archive material held by the council and some of the old Minute Books and Receipt Books will be lodged in the County Archives for safekeeping.

The council discussed the precept for the oncoming year and agreed to an increase of £500 over last year's rate. A great deal had been achieved in this current year (new dog waste bins, new notice boards, a contribution towards the resurfacing of the car park etc) and more expenditure is planned for the forthcoming year.

Drivers still

speeding

Eight councillors plus Cllr Peter Hare-Scott (MDDC) and Cllr Michael Lee (DCC) attended the January Parish Council meeting on one of the coldest nights of the winter!

Cllr. Peter Hare-Scott was thanked for getting the fence between the car park and Shuttern Close repaired to such a high standard. Cllr Hare-Scott reported that MDDC were in the process of setting their budget for 2010/11.

Statistics had been received from the black box placed on the pole at the entrance to Court Barton, which had been monitoring traffic movement and speed through the village.

The results proved that some 60 per cent of vehicles monitored in a 24 hour period had been breaking the 30mph speed limit and a small number were even caught doing in excess of 50mph.

The council agreed to check with DCC as to what happened to these figures once they were obtained, e.g. do the figures get passed on to the Police?|And also to ask them to continue monitoring the situation through the village.

A new Planning and Development group has been formed and will meet for the first time later this month. Any resident interested in making an input about the future of Newton St Cyres is invited to join the group. In the first instance please contact the Chairman, Cllr David Baker on 851752.

MDDC has agreed to let the parish council have a number of litter picking sticks, fluorescent tabards and rubbish sacks for volunteers to use to collect litter when they are out walking!

The parish council agreed to seek volunteers for the various areas of the village and then to obtain the relevant number of litter picking sticks etc, from MDDC.

The next council meeting will be on Monday, February 1 at 7.30pm in the Parish Hall Club Room.

The Parish Council Surgery for February will be held in conjunction with the Mini Market on Saturday, February 27.

The March Parish Council meeting will be held on March 1.