THE two higher tier councils on which I sit have a wide range of responsibilities and yet it all seems to come down to highways and potholes!

Research has shown that it is not just the Devon issue but the roadworks throughout Britain are in a poor state through lack of funding.

There have been so many complaints raised at full council in County that we have received an email from councillor Stuart Hughes, the Cabinet member for Highway Management, who has set out the challenges and responses.

In brief there have been 35,000 pothole assessments registered since January of this year.

April proved to be a bad month because it is usually one where we start to get on top of the works but heavy rain only increased the number of potholes.

Over the winter there were 40 teams across the county dedicated to repairing our roads.

We now have five Dragon patches, these are lorries that do all-in-one.

They have been working double shifts with the early morning and late night daylight hours.

At present just over 800 potholes are on the contractor Milestone's register to repair which is down from 3,000 earlier in the year.

Locally I have had some success with the filling of the potholes on the main roads into Hittisleigh.

This followed my rant at a highways meeting in early June.

Sadly I have not been as successful with the problems in Bow where the three parties, Highways, South West Water and Bow Water do not seem to agree on a way forward.

I raised the terrible road conditions outside the farm shop in Copplestone and have recently been informed that it will be repaired in the budget year 2024/ 25. It seems that the current budget is fully allocated.

In County the main budget areas are children's services and adult social care but as it does not seem to affect many people it is almost disregarded by the public.

This is sad because much of our debt comes from these two services and this reflects on your precept.

County is looking at changing the way it works and has instigated a governance review committee of which I am one of the five members!

We shall be meeting twice every month until May 2024! This is quite a commitment I think you must agree.

I'm also on two committees that centre on equality and diversity and inclusion. The committees are at district and county level.

It is good to be able to report that Mid Devon is making progress in its zero carbon quest.

The two leisure centres with swimming pools have ground source heat pumps and are also having solar panels fitted.

There is also a campaign of improving the housing stock with retro insulation and other such measures. So it is not all doom and gloom.

For the sporty members of the community I can announce that Mid Devon has launched a new leisure hub which gives members a personalised account for such things as booking.

With the climate change we have seen long dry spells followed by very heavy rain and subsequent floods in our streets.

May I urge you to check any drains near your property and report them on the Devon County website so that they can be cleared.

Cllr Frank Letch MBE

Devon County Councillor (Crediton Rural)

Mid Devon District Councillor (Crediton Lawrence)