AT the May meeting of Sandford Parish Council, Jim Stephens was elected chairman and Gordon Griffin JP as vice chairman.

The Local Elections saw nine parish councillors standing for an Uncontested Sandford Parish Council Election. There are now three vacant seats and these will be filled by co-option.

Eligible parishioners wishing to be considered for being co-opted to the Parish Council should write a letter expressing their interest and setting out why they feel they should be considered.?Please send your letter to Malcolm Vallance (Parish Clerk), Myrtle Cottage, Sandford, or email the Parish Council at: [email protected] . The closing date for nominations is June 5.

An email had been received from the new Sandford and Creedy District Councillor Elizabeth Wainwright introducing herself. She looked forward to working with the Parish Council in the future once the induction of Mid Devon District Councillors had been completed.

In the Open Forum Brian Fyfe (Chairman of Upton Hellions) introduced himself. It was agreed that in future the two Parishes would work closer together on joint issues.

A Parish Councillor had sent the Parish Council a strongly worded email objecting to weed spraying taking place in the village. The email had suggested instead of using weed spray that salt or vinegar be used. These comments were noted.

Also received was an email on the matter of speeding traffic which read: “Can the council do something about the huge very fast farm traffic that thunders down Rose and Crown Hill and past my cottage?

“It is frankly terrifying and is going to cause a fatality one day with the road junctions and garage activity at the bottom of the hill.

“I’m sure they are doing more than 30 and ’20 is plenty’.”

The Clerk had referred this matter to the Community Policeman for his comments and following a visit with the Speed Gun no-one had been found to be exceeding the speed limit.

The Parish Council is grateful to Parish organisations for donations totalling £1,000 towards the refurbishment of the Play Area.

These included £500 from Sandford Pantomime (Creedy Dramatic Arts), £250 from Sandford Stores (SACA) and £250 from Sandford Flower Show.

The two new pieces of play equipment have now been ordered and should be installed at the same time that the Play Area is refurbished.

The Parish Comment Book contained the following entries:

“369 Sandford Bus – The most used bus of the day is the 10.08am though most days regrettably it is not on time. As people use the bus for appointments at the doctors, hospital, opticians, etc the need for it to be on time is really important.?“Can we ask Dartline to pursue this for us bus users”.

It was agreed to forward these comments on to Dartline.

Also: “Whist we note that shop does Late Night Opening would it not be more advantageous to shoppers if instead it remained open on Wednesday afternoons or maybe open for a couple of hours on a Bank Holiday for papers?”?It was agreed to pass these comments on the Sandford Stores Committee.

Crediton Town Council had sent a copy of its Crediton Neighbourhood Plan (draft) and Cllrs Lizzie Dalton and Gordon Griffin JP were looking at this document with a view to creating a Sandford Neighbourhood Plan.

It was agreed to send a message to Mike Brett, and the Sandford Heritage Group, congratulating them on the success of the recent Sandford Exhibition.

It was noted that the damaged footpath outside “Valley View” was in the course of being repaired.

The Clerk was asked to write to Devon County Council Highways to say what a great job had been made of the recent “patching”, on the road from Sandford to Crediton and to congratulate the contractors on a job well done!

It was also agreed to press current issues: Patching needed on the road to West Sandford past the cow sheds at Town Barton also the poor state of the road at Long Barn.

The next Parish Council Meeting will take place at 7.30pm on June 6 at the Sandford Community Sports Pavilion.

MJV