ONE member of the public spoke during the Open Forum at the January meeting of Sandford Parish Council.

The parishioner, a member of Copplestone Football Club, raised the possibility of their Youth Teams using the Sandford Playing Field Football Pitch on Saturday mornings on a casual basis.?The Copplestone Club has 10 youth teams and regularly use Playing Field pitches in the surrounding villages.

He reported that some of the youngsters lived in Sandford and he felt in view of the Sport for England Award, for the new Sports Pavilion, this meant that the facilities should be open to the public and other organisations.

The chairman explained that the parish council was in the process of setting up a protocol for use of the new Sports Pavilion facilities by Sandford AFC, and other users, and suggested a letter be formally written to the parish council setting out the request.

CALL BOX

The clerk had confirmed with Mid Devon District Council that the parish council would like to adopt the Mill Lane call box.

At the same time it had been pointed out that the box was in a poor state and in need of re-decoration and these comments had been passed on to BT.

The future use of the box was discussed and it was agreed that once a response had been received from BT a decision for the future use of the box could be made.

There had been a hiccup in posting the January 2017 meeting agenda on the new website and this problem has been reported.

In the meantime parishioners are reminded that paper copies of the agenda are placed in the Post Office, in the square, outside Hillside at the bottom of Rose and Crown Hill and in East Village and New Buildings.

Mrs Georgina Ford from East Village has been co-opted to fill the vacant seat for Parish Councillor.

DONATIONS

At the meeting donations were agreed for St Swithun’s PCC £305 and £139 for Sandford Congregational Church towards churchyard maintenance.

Also a grant of £100 was agreed toward the purchase of a storage facility by Sandford Millennium Green and Paths Group for installation on the Green.

The Parish Precept for 2017/2018 was set at £12,872.

As work starts on the Sandford Community Sports Pavilion on January 17, following the demolition of the old Football Club Hut, the play area has now been closed for the duration of the building works.

In the meantime children can use the new Creedy View Play Area.

Further safety surfacing is to be installed there together with two benches and a Percy the Penguin Litter Bin.

Devon Air Ambulance Trust (DAAT) confirmed that they will be able to provide a Speaker for the Annual Parish Meeting on March 16 and they also sent details for the construction and funding for landing areas for an air ambulance.

The next meeting of the parish council is on Thursday, February 2, beginning at 7.30pm, at Sandford Congregational Church Hall.

MJV