Annual Parish Meeting Chairman's Report

Stoodleigh Parish Council

Report of the outgoing Chairman of the Parish Council to the Annual Parish Meeting - 22 May 2019 

Before I begin my report I must welcome our new Council and, in particular, the three new members, Sharon Davey, Comley Payne and John Widdowson who came forward to stand for election on 2 May. Ultimately, of course, they together with the three remaining Councillors, Leo Biles, Will Knowles and Geoffrey Parkman were all elected unopposed. One vacancy remains which I hope the Council will be able to fill in the near future. I am sure that we would all like to offer our best wishes to Sharon for a speedy recovery following her recent accident.

After ten years in office as a parish Councillor this is my eighth Chairman’s report. Thankfully 2018/19 was again a fairly quiet year for us as a Parish Council.

We have continued to make representations to other authorities on behalf of our local residents on issues such as footpaths and highways. In particular potholes have continued to be a problem and I would, again remind all residents that Devon County Council do respond to potholes reported on
their online facility provided they meet the necessary criteria.

During the course of the year we welcomed the fact that Stoodleigh Drive had been repaired at the Emmerford junction. That had been a matter of concern to many Stoodleigh residents. Sadly, there are ongoing issues with regard to alterations to the field entrance opposite that junction. Hopefully those issues will be resolved in the context of a current planning application for those works.
In the last twelve months dog fouling was reported as an issue of concern but some improvement in the situation was reported following a community email that I circulated on behalf of the Parish Council. The Council were reminded that MDDC have a website facility for reporting offenders although it is understandable that some residents will be reluctant to report friends and neighbours.

The Parish Council were consulted by Devon County Council about the SOS Emergency Telephone situated at Stoneland on the North Devon Link Road and whether we were prepared to meet the cost of its replacement and ongoing maintenance costs. There were general concerns about the need for such a facility as mobile ‘phones have made them more or less obsolete and too expensive to warrant retention. The Parish Council took the view that the Telephones were the responsibility of the Highways Authority and that the cost of maintaining or replacing them should not fall solely on the parish within which they are located.

There have been ongoing discussions about improvements to the Children’s Playground and the possible inclusion of some new equipment such as a Trim Trail. The Parish Council have been advised of the possibility of some S106 funding (money contributed by developers in the local catchment area) and have requested that some funding be earmarked for that purpose. Plans for
remedial works to the surface of the play area and the gatepost remain ongoing. Thanks go to Chris Hill for maintaining the playground on our behalf and for removing a tree which fell into the playground during gales early in the year.

During the year the Parish Council were consulted on 22 Planning Applications most of which were of a fairly minor nature. Six applications related to works to trees in the Conservation area and, at the time of writing this report, five await decision by the District Council. In addition the Parish Council submitted an objection to a Washfield application at Parkhouse Water due to the possible impact on residents in the village of timber lorries being brought through
the village.

Last year General Data Protection Regulations became a major talking point. Although it subsequently became clear that this was aimed more at major organisations and social networks rather than small Parish Councils we have adopted and published a GDPR Policy Statement.

At the Annual Parish Meeting last year some interest was expressed in further Defibrillator Training Sessions. As a result the Parish Council arranged, and paid for, a further two training sessions which were well attended and, seemingly, enjoyed by most if not all participants.

During the year, thanks to the efforts of Trevor and Shirley Cope, with assistance from Chris Whitehead, the redundant telephone kiosk at Hillcrest became the Swap Box. The Parish Council noted that the new facility appeared to be well patronised. After a winter break the box has recently been reopened and is available for all to use.

We have been fairly lucky in that Stoodleigh seems again to have been relatively crime free over the last twelve months. Sadly, due to Police resource issues, we no longer receive regular reports from the Police about incidents in the parish.

We continue to suffer from regular littering of roads within the parish and my thanks go to those local residents who have taken part in litter picks organised by Councillor Pat Pennington on behalf of the Parish Council. They have been well supported by all age groups. I hope that is something with which the new council feel able to continue.

The community email continues to go from strength to strength despite the need to comply with GDPR. The system continues to benefit the local community in so many ways and receives many positive comments. Our thanks must again go to Geraldine Talbot and Jean Winter for the work that they carry out to circulate information in such a timely manner. Thanks also for their continued efforts to maintain the Parish Website.

At the end of January and beginning of February we had a brief spell of snow. Our thanks go to Will Knowles and Jeannie for checking all of the grit bins to ensure that supplies were available for the use of road users.

Could I again remind you all that there is a reporting system operated by Devon County Council, available on their website, so that they can be notified of any salt bins that require refilling. A link to the County Council’s ‘Report a problem’ page is available from the Stoodleigh Parish webpages. If you become aware of any bins needing refilling please do use that facility. In a large parish such as
this it is impossible for us to check every salt bin especially at a time when driving is difficult.

I shall turn now to financial issues. As in the previous five years, last November the Parish Council agreed that its precept, that is its share of the Council Tax, should be frozen at £4000. As I have said in previous years, I am not sure how long that will be sustainable. Pressure continues to be placed on the budgets of County and District councils by the Government in terms of reductions in their grants. That means that there are increasing pressures for some services to be devolved to a much lower level - in other words parishes. Fortunately we were able to maintain the precept at that level despite knowing that we would have to fund the recent Parish Council election.

During the year we made our annual contribution of £400 towards the cost of maintaining the Churchyard at St Margaret's Church.

Last year I reported that the Parish Council had been approached by a Calverleigh resident who had carried out restoration works to some historic highway fingerposts in his area. He had identified four such posts in Stoodleigh that were in need of restoration. The Parish Council supported the principle of restoring those posts and sought offers of assistance from the local community. Our thanks go to Sheila Davis, Malcolm Jones and Jennifer Rowlandson for their work in restoring the signpost at Vial’s Corner and to John Holland for his restoration of the signpost at Kissing Gate Cross. The Parish Council agreed that discussion about the possible renovation of the two further historic posts at West End Cross and Stoodleigh Moor Cross should be on the agenda for the Annual Parish Meeting.

I have already mentioned one or two individuals in respect of particular aspects of the council’s work, I would like to place on record my thanks to all my fellow councillors for all that they have contributed over the course of the last year, to Sandra for all her support and tolerance and to our County and District Councillors Polly Colthorpe, Ray Stanley and Andrew Moore for their
dedication and hard work which benefits us all. Congratulations must also go to Ray and Andrew on their recent re-election to the District Council although the change in political balance at MDDC means that we will have to wait and see whether they will still have the same level of influence on our behalf.

Finally, I wish our new council well in looking after the interests of our community for the next four years.

Philip Talbot
8 May 2019