MEMBERS of Newton St. Cyres parish council have decided to invite a member of the parish youth club to become directly involved with the council by attending its monthly meetings and bringing the ideas and thoughts of local young people to the attention of the council.

The decision was made at the March meeting when the council discussed the format for the annual parish meeting to be held on Wednesday, April 21.

It was agreed that members of all the clubs and groups in the parish be invited to attend and bring with them a display relating to their activity.

The March meeting of the council drew eight members, plus the attendance of Peter Hare-Scott (leader of Mid Devon District Council) and Michael Lee (local county councillor) but no members of the public.

Although the meeting was shorter than usual, the topics discussed were varied and many!

Action:

• District Cllr Hare-Scott agreed to check whether the caravan cafe on the Half Moon lay-by would be closed permanently.

• It was reported that discussions about a suitable site for the proposed new school car park were ongoing.

• New signs for the recreation ground will soon be erected at the entrance to Station Road.

• Devon County Council are to clean up footpaths in the parish.

• Police reports. The majority of reports of recent incidents related to problems on the A377 Exeter-Barnstaple road, i.e people wandering on the main road.

• Litter pick. The response to the recent appeal for volunteers to help pick up litter had been very good and most areas should now have been dealt with.

• Cllr Hare-Scott reported that MDDC would support the county council in their attempt to prevent a unitary status for Exeter City. MDDC have taken back their recycling operation in-house and are talking to North Devon District about the two councils merging their refuse collections to save money.

• Cllr Lee said that the county were looking at the possibility of supplying grit and salt in larger quantities to parishes and sorting out the health and safety/insurance aspect of parishioners being more responsible for looking after their own areas in icy weather.

Date of next meeting. The April meeting will be held on Monday April 12 in the clubroom at the parish hall, starting at 7.30pm. An invitation is extended to every parish resident to attend.

Parish Council "Surgery," This will be held in conjunction with the mini-market, to be held on Saturday, April 24 (10.30am until noon).

Cllr Jill Baker