EIGHT councillors attended the December meeting of Newton St Cyres Parish Council and were joined by Cllr Margaret Squires (Devon County Council) and three members of the public.

Planning. The meeting was informed that the application for the new School had been approved and the councillors made no comment on the proposed extension to the Tennis Club building at the Recreation Ground.

The extra advertising signs that had appeared at Half Moon lay-by were discussed and it was agreed to check the legality with the planning authority, Mid Devon District Council.

Local maintenance. The chairman and the clerk had toured the parish noting where maintenance work could be carried out by Thorverton Parish Council handyman. The list was approved by the councillors and it was hoped that this work would start to be undertaken in 2017.

Local Parish Plan. Following the first meeting of the Development Group a list of actions had been drawn up with details of which group in the parish would take responsibility for the action points.

Resilience Group. Jock Campbell had presented a paper to the council with details of the Community Resilience Forum meeting he had attended where emergency planning, the role of the Fire Service and Police and Community Rest Centres were discussed.

Cllr Reeves reported that the early warning system in the parish had worked during the recent heavy rain.

The councillors were also told that a volunteer road maintenance person could be trained to Chapter 8 level free-of-charge. Anyone interested in becoming part of this scheme should contact the parish clerk, Jane Hole, for more details on 01392 851148.

Speed Watch. An appeal was made for more volunteers to join the Community Speed Watch Team and it was emphasised that the presence of the Team in the village was helping to reduce the speeding through the village and more volunteers would mean the team could be out in the village more often.

Anyone willing to join the team and play their part in making the road through the village safer should contact Tom Clague on 01392 851639 for more details.

Precept. As the December Parish Council meeting is the time when the precept for the following year is agreed the councillors discussed the budget figures taking into account expected expenditure for the following year and agreed that no increase in the precept would be required for 2017.

New date and venue for Parish Surgeries. The councillors agreed to take the Parish Surgery table and information to the village coffee mornings in 2017 instead of to the Village Market.

This will mean that the councillors will attend the surgery in rota on the first Saturday of every month (10.30am to 12 noon) in conjunction with the coffee mornings run by the church, the Parish Hall, the Twinning Group, the Craft Club, the Friends of the Arboretum and the Gardening Club. Please come along to the coffee mornings where there will be plenty of stalls selling a variety of goods and meet your councillors with your queries and questions. Details of the surgeries will be published in the “Newton Wonder” every month.

The next parish council meeting will be held in the Clubroom of the Parish Hall on Thursday, February 2, at 7.30pm. We will be pleased to see you there when we can again take on board your concerns and queries.

Cllr Jill Baker

Press Officer