THE June 6 meeting of Newton St Cyres Parish Council was attended by all nine councillors, the parish clerk, the Devon County Councillor, Mrs Margaret Squires and four members of the public.

During the public participation section, concern was expressed over the litter (signs, cones etc) left behind after the road surfacing in Newton St Cyres and the installation of the new gas main along the A377. The council agreed to follow this up with the relevant people.

There was also a request for removal of the bollards near the old school site at the end of Sand Down Lane, as they were no longer needed and they obscured the view of car drivers turning out of Sand Down Lane. Again, this will be passed on to the relevant authority.

Finally the loss of the cross-hatching at the end of Station Road after the resurfacing was commented on. (See later in the report for more on this).

ROAD SAFETY IN THE CENTRE OF THE VILLAGE

Road safety in the centre of Newton St Cyres proved to be major topic for the meeting.

This was brought sharply into focus by an incident in the village, when the school-crossing patrolman narrowly avoided major injury when he was hit on the leg by a passing motorist.

The council has been campaigning very actively for several measures that might have prevented the incident, and the Devon County Councillor and the chairman of the council recently met with Ian Sorenson, Highway Management Development Officer for DCC, to discuss road safety in Newton St Cyres.

A summary of the progress on the issues is given below:

• School Crossing Flashing Lights. These are still located, inappropriately, at the top of the hill. The council has been requesting they be moved for a year now. The council was assured that their move is imminent.

• New white lines laid down after road surfacing. Not only is the cross-hatching missing from the end of Station Road, but the lines going through the centre of the village appear to be slightly in the wrong place. Ian Sorenson has contacted the contractors who will check where the old lines were using Google Maps and correct any errors. The lines at Langford Bridge now take into account the concrete blocks and this is an improvement.

• Speeding in the village. The speed limit in the village is 30 mph. A recent SCARF (Speed Compliance Action Review Forum) report on the speed of vehicles along Station Road outside the school between 8.45am and 9.15am sampled 74 vehicles.

Only four vehicles exceeded 34mph (the maximum speed recorded being 36 mph). This level of speeding would not be regarded by DCC as of major concern.

However, the Parish Council considered that this was not a true reflection of the speed of vehicles on this road as many of the vehicles would be delivering children to school and so stopping and starting.

It was decided to request a second survey to be carried out at a different time. Average speed cameras are still due to be installed on the A377.

• The Council has requested a "school" road sign to be placed near the new school site. This has not yet been agreed. It will be requested again.

• Pedestrian-controlled lights (Pelican crossing). Although funding is probably some years away, plans for pedestrian-controlled lights in the village centre have been drawn up and presented to the community. Comments have now been collated and together with a simpler and cheaper plan, have been sent to DCC. The council decided that there is a need to follow this up very actively.

• The Parish Council decided to request a safety audit for the village centre as a means of moving issues forward.

CLOSURE OF VILLAGE SHOP AND POST OFFICE

It was with great regret that the council learnt of the pending closure of the village shop and Post Office.

It was decided that, while the council could not be responsible for running a Community Post Office, it would actively seek to support such a project if there were sufficient interested people.

To this end it was decided to hold a public meeting on Thursday, July 4, in the Parish Hall at 7pm to assess the extent of support for such a project. It is hoped to have a speaker with experience of running a Community Post Office.

GRASS CUTTING AND HEDGE TRIMMING

Various areas of grass, paths and hedge banks now need trimming. Most of these are responsibility of Mid Devon District Council and we now have a schedule for when these areas are cut. Those that are the responsibility of the Parish Council will be dealt with shortly.

ALLOTMENTS

A meeting of the allotments group was called to discuss the problems with rats. Those allotment holders that were present agreed to measures to control the problem which included tidying up some of their area where possible.

There are some old sheds however, which are on abandoned allotments. These may need to be taken down and the council needs to assess their construction materials before appropriate steps can be taken.

The next meeting of the Parish Council will be on Thursday, July 4, at 7.30pm, which will be preceded by the public session concerning the possibility of a Community Post Office at 7pm. Members of the public are welcome to attend.

There will also be a Parish Surgery at the Coffee Morning to be held on July 6 in the Parish Hall.