AT some time Yeoford will be losing its forlorn and neglected public telephone box in the centre of the village, news that is causing no small concern because of total absence of a mobile telephone signal in some parts of the village.

Crediton Hamlets Parish Council at its first round-the-table meeting this year was told that when BT was asked to repair and repaint the telephone box, BT’s reply was that it was a managed payphone.

BT told the parish council that the box was rented by a company who were contacted with regards to the request and has stated that it no longer needs the payphone so it will be removed in due course.

Councillors were disappointed at this response as the mobile phone coverage in Yeoford was not reliable.  In the long-term, as in other parishes, it is likely that BT will offer to "sell" the box to the parish council for £1.  When that happens the parish council will ask parishioners for ideas for its use.

GOSPEL HALL

The council supported a planning application from Dr J Shelley for change of use of Yeoford Gospel Hall from chapel to a single dwelling.

Mr John Stevens, a Trustee of the Chapel, explained that it was built in 1901 on land given by the Shelley Estate. If there were no services for a certain length of time the land reverted back to the Shelley Estate.

He said the grave stones would be moved into the burial ground, the cemetery, on the west side of the building.

Although the road outside the chapel often flooded, It was said that the chapel had flooded once 30 years ago.

Councillors felt it preferable to see the building being used and cared for as a dwelling than left unoccupied to fall into disrepair.

POSBURY CLUMP

Asking for a condition that the site can only be used for private purposes, except for visits from interest groups such as educational, the council supported an application from Mr E Burke to build a workshop and store for woodland and land management at Posbury Clump.

A neighbour, Mr Simon Ford, urged the parish council not to support the application because there had been no visual impact statement, there were bats, a protected species, on the site and there should be an emergence survey. There were snakes at the site, contrary to what the applicant had said.

Mr Ford said that for these reasons the application did not comply with the law. He added that the applicant had said the development would not be seen outside the site but Mr Ford said this depended on tree cover which was not a permanent feature.

Natural England had said it would protect some features of this Site of Special Scientific Interest such as the quarry faces.

The trees were outside the SSSI. Some of the trees have ash die back and would need to be felled which would mean the 5.2 metre high building would be seen to the north by people on the public highway.

Mr Ford also wondered if allowing such a building on such a small acreage would set a precedent.

There was no comment in response to an application from Mr N Love for a Certificate of Lawfulness for the existing use of land and a caravan as a single dwelling for four years at Gladrose, Yeoford.

There was no comment to a request from Devon County Council that Hamlets Council considered an application from Mr B G Pearce for retrospective change of use from small scale specialist waste incinerator to receipt and temporary change of animal by-products at Old Tellams Yard on the road from Pitton Cross to Hook Farm, Cheriton Bishop.