A CAR park that has been used for years mainly by people catching a train from Yeoford could become an “official” car park for the village.  

Crediton Hamlets Parish Council will be giving this more thought at its February meeting after one of the Trustees of the former Chapel asked at the council’s December meeting for it to consider taking it over, plus the cemetery.

Explaining the background, David Pitts said the Chapel had been given in 1900 by the Shelley family.

If there was no service for two years, the land and any buildings reverted back to the family. 

When the Chapel was being used, there was the finance to do some work.  The Trustees now did not have any income. Headstones had been moved to the cemetery which was not full. 

Parish Council chairman John Stevens also a Trustee, who had left the meeting during the discussion, had written on their behalf to say that as planning permission to convert the Chapel to a house had been granted, the Trustees were now left to decide what to do with the cemetery and car park.  

Martin Hann who lives nearby said his family supported the plan, his wife regularly used the car park when catching the train from Yeoford.  “We hope the parish council will take this on so that we do not lose the car parking spaces,” he said. 

Mr Pitts explained that they had given the Shelley Estate the car parking spaces for the building in exchange for moving the headstones.  

It was said that British Rail “had a lovely car park here but sold it many years ago”.

Councillors liked the idea of taking on the car park, it was said there was a need for this, but were less sure about the cemetery and wanted to check the implications. 

NEOPARDY AND OTHER ROAD WORKS

It was reported that repairs to Neopardy bridge were slow to progress. Councillors noted that damage was potentially caused by the width of modern farm vehicles.  The imposition of a width restriction was discussed but Councillors felt it would not be effective.  

One comment was that the bridge had not been repaired properly last time this was done.  The parish council had been asking whether it would be possible to widen the bridge for the bigger vehicles.  

County and district councillor Frank Letch reported that the district council was looking at its Master Plan for Crediton.  At the roundabout at Wellparks, it was asking for clearer signing to show vehicles which lane to take.

He had noticed that the Copplestone road was being closed for five days in March.

Salt bins had been filled, including the new one by the telephone box in Yeoford.  

It was agreed to grant £200 towards the upkeep of the Crediton Town and Crediton Hamlets War Memorial on Union Road, Crediton. The parish council was also asking about adding names of those who had fallen in view of recent conflicts. 

MORE POTHOLES

Following many complaints about the state of the road and recurring potholes at Moorlake on the road into Crediton from Yeoford, parish clerk Rachel Hodder reported having been told by Devon County Council that, after liaising with its Neighbourhood and Network Enforcement teams to understand the background to the problem, it thought the cause was some upwelling of water since the utility works were done there “a little while ago”.

The county council continued: “If this is the case, the authority may have a case to request that company concerned re-attend and rectify the issue, making good the surface at the same time. 

“Unfortunately, this takes a little time to investigate and may require the taking of some core samples to understand what is happening below the surface. Our Network Enforcement team have been tasked with prioritising this work.

“In the meantime, it would appear we have attempted to effect a temporary repair using a system that is not suitable to wet conditions, which is also unfortunate. 

“In response to that we have requested our contractor re-attend the site and remove the loose material that has resulted and use a more suitable material to improve the surface as much as possible. 

“That said, given the presence and amount of water, this is still a temporary measure whilst we pursue the permanent solution but it should ensure the area remains safe to use in the meantime.

“It should become clearer next week as to the direction we need to take to ensure this issue is rectified permanently.”  That was shortly before Christmas.

The county council will repair potholes that have a 40 mm (4 cm) vertical edge and are 300 mm (30 cm) wide, its website shows the dimensions.  The parish council stressed the importance of reporting potholes. 

Check on the Devon County Council website: https://www.devon.gov.uk/roads-and-transport/report-a-problem/report-a-pothole/ .