THE September 5 meeting of Newton St Cyres Parish Council was attended by eight Councillors, the Parish Clerk, the Devon County Councillor Mrs Margaret Squires, the Mid Devon District Councillor Graeme Barnell and two members of the public.

At the start of the meeting, Alison Ward from Wessex Community Land Trust (WCLT) and Stewart Wass and Andrew Wiles of the Brampford Speke Upton Pyne and Cowley Community Land Trust (BSUPCCLT) made short presentations to the council.

Community Led Housing Projects. The Parish Council has become aware of the need for more low cost rental property in the village. This scheme is one way to make such accommodation available to people who have a connection to the village. We are very fortunate that BSUPPCC (who have already completed a successful project in Upton Pyne) have offered us the opportunity to join with them and form a new community land trust with the intention of building affordable homes for rent in Newton St Cyres.

In her presentation, Alison Ward explained how the WCLT would support us step-by-step through the entire process.

Although WCLT is a not-for-profit organisation, it charges a fee for its services on successful completion of a project.

This however is recouped from the developer (usually a Housing Association and not the Community Land Trust or the Parish Council).

The Community Land Trust makes key decisions about the number and style of houses as well as choosing a housing association, the architect and eventually, the tenants.

They also own the freehold for the completed properties. However the housing association takes on the financial risk, the development and the day-to-day management of the completed properties.

One key limiting factor is the availability of suitable land. The council decided to explore the scheme further.

The next step is to call a public meeting to see if there are sufficient interested local people willing to form a steering group.

The group will then work with BSUPCCLT to investigate the potential for new affordable homes in Newton St Cyres.

If you are interested in this project, please feel free to attend the public meeting which will be held in Newton St Cyres Parish Hall at 7pm on Thursday, October 17.

It was also decided that the Parish Council would apply to list the old school site as an "Asset of Community Value". Should we be successful in this, it would give us priority as a buyer when the site comes up for sale.

Progress on a potential Post Office service and a Community Shop. Sadly there have been some technical hitches in setting up a part-time Post Office in the Parish Hall.

However the Parish Council is talking to all parties concerned to sort out the issue. The new Post Box in the centre of the village has not appeared either.

The Parish Council has contacted Royal Mail and been told that currently the site is waiting to be surveyed. We hope this will be completed soon.

There is better news on the Community Shop. Since the last council meeting in June, two meetings have been held. At the first public meeting, a steering group was formed to take the project forward.

The steering group has met once and will meet again shortly. Currently the group is busy composing a questionnaire.

The questionnaire will seek to measure the level of support for a community shop in the village. It is very important for the project that a good level of support can be demonstrated as this opens the possibility of applying for funding from several charitable organisations.

Please take time to complete and return the questionnaire when you get it.

Road Safety in the Centre of the Village. Margaret Squires (DCC councillor), Graeme Barnell (MDCC councillor) and Roger Cashmore (Parish Councillor) met with Devon County Council Highways to discuss various issues to do with road safety during August.

They covered the following issues:

• There is now recognition of the need for a toucan (pedestrian controlled lights) crossing in the centre of the village. However as neither plan submitted by the highways department proved satisfactory, they are now investigating a third, cheaper and less controversial option. Funding will need to be allocated and this may take some time.

• Our request for a safety audit of the centre of the village seems to be accepted.

• DCC recognise the importance of the Boniface Trail (A dual pedestrian and cycle path from Crediton to Exeter) and has offered technical support to the group working on this project.

Most of the other road-related issues are still unresolved and continue to be chased by the Parish Council. However these issues were raised at the meeting:

• In the public section, concerns were expressed that hedgerows were overgrowing roads and making roads too narrow, obscuring double yellow lines and limiting visibility. It was agreed that letters should be sent to the land owners asking them to cut back the hedges.

• We are very pleased to announce that the school-crossing lights are now working.

• The pollution caused by the A377 has now been monitored for one year. The annual result being 32 µg/m3 nitrogen dioxide where the level that causes concern is 40 µg/m3. However at times during the year, the level has reached 40 µg/m3. The results are being reported to DEFRA and for now, monitoring is continuing.

• Public concern has also been expressed that cars parking on the pavements at Half Moon make them difficult to use especially if you have a buggy. It was agreed that letters should be sent to the households explaining the difficulties.

News about the Parish Council. The Parish council is pleased to announce that Councillor Roger Cashmore has been voted Vice Chairman for the council. Also, like many Parish Councils, Newton St Cyres Parish Council is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year. Look out for a logo celebrating this on our official documents.

Planning Applications. Two new planning applications have been received. The first was for conversion of a barn to a house and garage at West Barn, and the second was for the felling of one conifer at 5 Court Orchard. The Parish Council decided to pass no comment on these. It was also noted that there has been a certificate of lawful land use applied for at Winscott Barton. The Parish Council has already commented on this.

Councillors’ Areas of Responsibility. Each councillor has responsibility of liaising with other organisations and groups.

The following items were reported:

• The Community Speed Watch group are still waiting to be contacted by the police to see if they can resume monitoring.

• The Recreation Ground has started a major revamp of the play area. There is a possibility of some funding from the S106 budget.

• The flood warden is organising suitable Hi-Viz jackets as discussed at the last meeting. Funding for these may be available from DCC. The process for alerting the flood wardens is cumbersome. This is being reviewed.

• The village centre defibrillator needs replacing. It was agreed to purchase one from Cardiac Science. The DCC councillor has offered some funding towards the cost.

• The first agreements with landowners are nearly in place for the Boniface trail. Applications for planning permission will be initiated in the next few months.

The next meeting of the Parish Council will be on Thursday, October 3 at 6.30pm.

There will also be a Parish Surgery at the Coffee Morning held on October 5 in the Parish Hall and a public meeting about the Community Land Trust on Thursday, October 17 at 7pm.

Liz Ouldridge