AS Newton St Cyres Parish Council held no meeting in August, you may be forgiven for thinking nothing happened. But this is far from the case.

For example, there has been the usual grass cutting, but in addition to that you may have noticed that the bus shelters have been cleaned, the two benches in Court Orchard have been repainted and the village green noticeboard has been refurbished.

Perhaps not so noticeably, we have renewed the battery in the Recreation Ground Defibrillator thus ensuring this vital piece of life-saving equipment remains available.

New swings have been installed at the Recreation Ground using S106 money we were able to apply for from Mid Devon District Council.

Councillor John Dean presented his quarterly report on Travel and Road safety. He has had some success.

The Environment Agency has informed him that an issue of sewage leaking into the Smallbrook, that we had identified earlier, is currently being resolved.

The road outside Winscott Barton Farm has become dangerous. Smaller potholes have now been filled by Devon County Council Highways.

Highways have also told John that “future works” have now been planned on the more serious damage.

However, many serious issues remain outstanding and these were discussed with County Councillor, Steve Keable.

It was decided to ask Steve to put some of them before HATOC (Highways and Transport Orders Committee), which meets soon.

We are asking for a 20mph speed limit on Station Road around the school.

Steve told us that DCC now views these more sympathetically. We also are going to ask for a replacement of the electronic sign attached to the footbridge over the road by Newton House.

This warned of the concealed turning to Station Road. We are going to suggest that the Parish Council could part fund it, hoping that this might encourage a positive result.

The Boniface Trail remains an issue but we hope to have further information after a meeting of local parishes councils in October.

Councillor Graeme Barnell spoke of the work of the Footpaths Group. The group has surveyed our footpaths and identified problems.

Missing or broken signs are a particular problem and they hope to rectify this. Repairs to the footbridges are a more expensive long-term problem and DCC Footpaths team will have to become involved.

Councillor Liz Ouldridge spoke of the liaison work between the Church and also the Friends of the Arboretum. These are still ongoing and no resolutions were made.

The next cycle of budgeting is nearly upon us. The budget and so next year’s precept will be set in December.

Before that, the Parish Council will need to review the grants it’s given to local organisations in this current financial year and discuss grants for next year.

To this end, we would ask any organisation wishing for a grant from the Council for the year 2025/26 to submit an application before October 31. Forms can be found on the Council website.

We are sad to report that, while keeping his work on Footpaths and Resilience, Councillor Graeme Barnell has decided to step down as a Parish Councillor.

We will miss his knowledge and commitment and thank him for all he has done. We are now down to only five Councillors, when the full Council requires nine.

I would like to ask Parishioners if they could consider becoming a Councillor. With a full Council, the work is not too onerous and the Council helps make the Parish a pleasant place to live.

You are very welcome to contact to me ([email protected] or ring 07752 959845) or the Parish Clerk about what it entails and application forms can be found on the Council website.

The next Parish Council meeting will be Thursday, October 2 at 7pm in the Parish Hall Club Room. All members of the public are welcome to attend.

Cllr Liz Ouldridge