THE Thursday, May 6 meeting of Newton St Cyres Parish Council, held on Zoom, was attended by nine Councillors, the Parish Clerk, the Mid Devon District Councillor (Graeme Barnell), the County Councillor (Mrs Margaret Squires) and three members of the public.

This was the annual meeting that required certain roles and paperwork to be reviewed.

The Chairman (Jim Enright) and Vice Chairman (Roger Cashmore) were elected to serve in those positions for another year. The existing responsibilities taken by members of the council were renewed for another year. The list of responsibilities is given below:

Cllr Jim Enright - Chairman, Community engagement officer, Development group, Raddon Hills Parish Councils group, Parish Hall Car park group member and member of the Staff and Personnel Committee, Quality council.

Cllr Roger Cashmore - Vice Chairman, Churchyard Liaison, Flood/Emergency Plan Integration Officer, Raddon Hills Parish Councils group member, Co-ordinator for action regarding the A377 safety issues.

Cllr Damien Hodge - Arboretum Management Group Liaison, Neighbourhood Watch Officer, Risk Assessment of Assets

Cllr Liz Ouldridge - Press Officer, Allotment Officer, Neighbourhood Litter Officer.

Cllr Stephen Parker - Boniface Trail Representative, Parish Footpath Officer, Raddon Hills Parish Councils group member, Responsible for the village flowers, the village green, the village benches and the telephone box containing the defibrillator by Belluno.

Cllr Gina Quicke - Development Group member, Primary School Link, Parish Hall Representative, Staff and Personnel Committee member, Risk Assessment of Assets, Next door Parish Representative.

Cllr Graham Scopes - Community, Speed Watch Officer, Snow Warden and Co-ordinator.

Cllr Chris Southcott - Highways and Railways Liaison Officer, Recreation Ground Representative, Friends of Newton St Cyres Station liaison, Responsible for the book exchange telephone box near The Beer Engine and the defibrillator at the Rec.

Cllr Paul Taylor - Development Group Member, Staff and Personnel Committee Member, Training Officer.

Parish Clerk - Jane Hole.

In addition, some of the councillors take responsibility for monitoring the bus stops and notice boards around the parish.

A new role is required for a Climate Emergency Officer.

This new role will be liaising with Devon County Council and Mid Devon District Council as they work to reducing the carbon footprint of the county.

The councillors feel unable to take on this role and a suitably qualified member of the public will be approached.

The Parish Council’s policies can be found on the website. These have all been reviewed.

The standing orders and the financial regulations have been updated and the new documents were approved.

Mid Devon District Council is bringing out a new code of conduct policy for councillors and this will be adopted when it is available.

An internal audit has been conducted of the annual spending of the council and the audit was approved by the council. The Parish Clerk was asked to investigate the possibility of moving to internet banking.

ROAD SAFETY ISSUES

• The Parish Council has been investigating the possibility of purchasing and installing speed monitoring and warning signs in the village. While this is not out of the question, new regulations mean that we cannot install them permanently in one location. We have also become aware that Devon County Council has such signs and rotates them around the villages. The Parish Council decided to see if we could be included in this rotation, and if not, to consider purchasing our own.

• The pavement alongside the A377 on School Hill is still very overgrown and urgently needs clearing. This means not just cutting back growth (which was done recently) but clearing the weeds and soil that have obscured large parts of the path. The Parish Clerk was asked to write to Devon County Council to make an urgent request for this to be done.

• The Parish Clerk was also asked to write to Devon County Council about some of our other urgent concerns. These include a new SCARF test for Station Road, school warning signs for Station Road and the subsiding manhole cover near Quicke’s farm.

• Three volunteers will soon have completed the first part of their training to be Community Road Wardens and are qualified to carry out minor repairs. In the next phase, we will be looking for materials and other support from Devon County Council so that the wardens can undertake repairs.

• Despite being notified, Devon County Council has yet to repair the broken streetlights in the village. The County Councillor was asked to follow this up for us.

• The Mid Devon District Councillor is setting up a community action group for safety issues on the A377. He hopes to include all the parishes along the road between Cowley Bridge and Crediton. This parish has agreed to be part of the group and Councillor Jim Enright volunteered to represent us.

THE OLD SCHOOL SITE

The Parish Council has been in discussion with the developers over this project, and there was a recent Zoom meeting open to members of the public.

The plans are for eight detached houses to be built on the site. There is no current plan for there to be any affordable housing and as the site is small, there is no legal requirement for there to be any. The Council expressed concerns about this to the developer.

The entrance to the development will be from the A377, a little further to the edge of the village than the Tytheing Close entrance.

A member of the public suggested that the 30mph limit sign should be moved further back, to ensure traffic was not speeding as it passed the new entrance.

OTHER PLANNING ISSUES

• The Church has applied for one tree to be removed and two trees to be pruned in its grounds for safety reasons. The Council supported this application.

• An application has been received for a small box and some conduit to be installed at New Bridge, Langford Road. This will be for monitoring water levels and river flow. The installation will be well concealed from the road. The Council supported this application.

• A pre-planning consultation document has been circulated for the installation of a telecommunications system on the church tower. The system will consist of four small masts, attached one to each side of the tower. They will be similar in colour to the tower and not protrude above it. There will be control boxes installed behind the parapet of the tower which will not be visible from the ground. These masts will significantly improve the internet/phone reception for any house that can see the church tower. The Council decided to support this application when it is submitted.

The next meeting of the Parish Council will be at the Parish Hall on Thursday, June 3, 2020 at 7pm.

Members of the public are welcome to attend, although only a total limit of 25 people (including councillors) are permitted at the meeting.

Alternatively, if members of the public wish issues to be raised in council meetings, they can contact councillors in the usual way.

Liz Ouldridge