ONE member of the public joined the nine councillors for the meeting of Newton St Cyres Parish Council on Thursday, October 4. Apologies had been received from Cllr Peter Hare-Scott (Mid Devon District Council) and Cllr Margaret Squires (Devon County Council).

The Chairman, Cllr Jim Enright, opened the meeting by detailing the contents of a police seminar he had attended on drug use etc.

The Chairman urged all councillors to be alert to any changes they may see in young people in their care as drug dealers were infiltrating local areas through “Facebook” etc. and through personal contact. The signs to look out for include young people with more money to spend than they would normally have and acting in an unusual manner. Any suspicious actions should be reported to someone in a supervisory role.

MDDC matters. The council agreed to support Shobrooke Parish Council in its bid for funding from the S106 “general pot” for a new playground fence in its parish and to support its application from TAP funding for a new grit bin at Shute Cross.

It was also agreed that Newton St Cyres should apply for the remainder of the S106 funding and the Arboretum may be an ideal location for the extra funding.

Councillors responsibilities – reports. A meeting of the allotment holders had taken place. The problem of the rabbits had been discussed and the allotment holders were in favour of ferreting to keep the rabbits under control. The allotment holders were keen to recruit new people to the allotments and agreed to produce an introductory leaflet for distribution in the Village Welcome Pack.

Cllr Steve Parker had obtained funding for a new and larger strimmer for his work on the parish footpaths.

The “Best Kept Village” sign on the village green had been damaged and Cllr Parker agreed to relocate and repair the sign as it is in the way of the grass mower where it is presently situated.

The council agreed to apply for Change of Use for the land purchased to be used for the new cemetery.

The sheds housing the equipment for the Resilience Group had been checked and were all in order and a meeting of the group would be arranged.

The work on shoring up Shuttern Brook had been completed.

Cllrs were requested to let the Press Officer have any articles they wished to be added to the Winter Newsletter by the November Parish Council meeting.

Cllrs to attend the Parish Surgery at the Coffee Mornings were agreed as: November – Cllr Jim Enright; December – Cllrs D and J Baker.

Policies. It was agreed to update the present Press Policy and to formulate a policy for the use of Social Media to bring these policies in line with present trends and usage of social media.

Report from Devon Association of Parish Councils (DALC). Cllrs Jim Enright and David Baker reported on an interesting DALC conference they had attended where DCC Highways had discussed the Road Warden Scheme and where insurance implications for this scheme were likely to occur.

Rural Mental Health had been a subject for discussion and it was agreed that this could be raised at the forthcoming Raddon Hills meeting of local parishes to check where Parish Councils could fit into any scheme of help and assistance in this field.

Highways matters. The list of issues was still as long as ever and it was agreed that a list of the issues that had been on the list for a long time should be compiled and sent to DCC at the highest level requesting action.

The next meeting of the Parish Council will be held on Thursday, November 1 at 7.30pm in the Clubroom of the Parish Hall.

Members of the public are always welcome to attend with queries or issues they wish to raise. The next Parish Surgery will be held on Saturday, November 3 in conjunction with the Church Coffee Morning in the Parish Hall. Please feel free to come along and meet the Councillor on duty there.

Jill Baker

Press Officer.