LOOKING at its budget for the coming year, Crediton Hamlets Parish Council had not yet received any application for funding from the CA (Citizens Advice) and was unsure whether to allocate potential funds for this year.

Not so long ago the CA was a five-days-a-week service, it is now two days, meeting in the former Council Offices in Market Street.

Although that building has been sold to a private buyer, the CA service was still using the space where volunteers help members of the public with a host of problems.

Then Crediton Hamlets Parish Council had been joined by the Kelly Trust and Crediton United Charities (Relief in Need) in giving financial support because Mid Devon District Council had cut its budget.

Now the Hamlets council is wondering whether the district council might change its mind and help the CA service and whether the CA had any idea how its standing was.

SOIL DUMP

Talking about local roads led Cllr Ruth Brook to speak about the potential increase of traffic through Venny Tedburn if the Devon County Council planning application to take 350,000 tons of inert soil and topsoil to a farm near Whitestone went ahead.

She said if lorries from Crediton were to be among those servicing the site they would be using a road that already had "a massive amount of use”.

She added: "This could be bad news for Venny Tedburn because there is already lots and lots of traffic using that road."

It was agreed a letter of objection be sent to the county council requesting asking that heavy traffic be asked to use the major roads instead of the narrow lanes.

DIGESTER

Chairman, Cllr George Mortimer, intended to represent the council at the district council planning meeting (June 5), when the application for an anerobic digester on Lords Meadow would be discussed.

Councillors had objected when the application was first posted. They were now reaffirming they were totally against it and queried if the application included any kind of mitigation against odour.

They agreed that dust could affect a number of businesses on Lords Meadow, whether the amount of traffic, mainly heavy lorries, had been adequately assessed and what about the amount of traffic when the houses were built nearby.

It was also said that it takes more land to get rid of the digestate (what is left over) than it does to grow the crops to feed the plant.

"It just does not add up, even if it is producing ’green’ power," was a comment. Councillors wanted to know if the district council had employed a consultant to check the facts set out in the application for this relatively new method of producing power.

There was also a query on the result of the environmental impact survey or was it a case of ’as it is green energy do not object’?

"We don’t want to hear five years down the line that more material has to be brought in from further away to make it work," was a comment.

WELCOMED SAINT

Cllr Nick Way, Devon County Council member for the parish, was pleased that the county council had adopted his idea of St Boniface as the Patron Saint of Devon.

"It is a tremendous opportunity for businesses and people in Devon. Cornwall and Dorset have their Patron Saint, we now have ours. St Boniface is the most significant Saint born in this county," he said.

Cllr Way reported that he had been appointed by Devon County Council as a member of Devon and Somerset Fire Authority, the independent body that ensures the local fire and rescue service performs efficiently.

NOT GOOD ENOUGH

In his report, Cllr Mortimer was not very happy at being told the most effective way to contact the local neighbourhood highways officer about roads issues was through Cllr Way.

He asked what would happen if a councillor was in a back lane and there was a roads emergency. The council had been told that if he did not recognise the telephone number, the officer did not answer it and his mail box was full.

It was felt their Clerk’s telephone number should be among those recognised, especially as she had a designated council phone.

Cllr Way tried to explain that demands on the officer’s time were high, covering at least 40 parishes.

He said when he first became a county councillor there was a small working team with lengthsmen who regularly worked an area, an officer in charge and an assistant. Now there was just the neighbourhood officer.

He added that the officer holds two "surgeries" at Crediton Library each month from 10am to 12.30pm. "It is not ideal but it is the system," he said. "Not many years ago he also covered Margaret Squires’ area as well," he added.

He said that often when a problem was reported it would go straight through to the main contractor. Pothole reports did not go to Devon Highways but to the contractor who would do the work.

It was agreed to write to the chief neighbourhood highways officer asking for a contact telephone number.

Cllr Renee Jarvis asked if there was any hope of the road below Three Ways Cross being repaired because it was "terrible", so was the pothole area on the road between Westwood and Denbury coming out of Crediton on the Yeoford road.

NEW MEMBER

Two applications were before the council for co-option to fill the vacant seat. One from Yeoford and one from Hookway. Because the council has often struggled to find someone from the Hookway area, this was the person chosen "to keep an eye on what is happening there”.

It was agreed to object strongly to the district council to a planning application from Mrs T Matthews for the removal of Condition 3 (re agricultural use) of application 14/00757 for the demolition of a building if not tied to a holding.

A slight diversion was caused when the burglar alarm was set off accidentally when councillors went into the building.

It took several telephone calls and almost three-quarters-of-an-hour before the owner came along to sort things out.

Cllr Brook felt it would be useful for the council to know where defibrillators were in the district. She asked for information.