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Chillaton Newsletter - September 2014
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Proposed Wind Turbines
Cardwell Farm
The pre-application consultation on this proposal has now ended and the consultants for the applicants are now analysing the responses they received. It is likely that these will be considered by the Parish Council at its meeting on 5th November.
On the 22nd September, the Longcross Action Group intend to fly a balloon at the same height as the turbine blade tip, from an area a short distance from the site. It will give a good indication of the visual impact of the proposed turbine. Please put the date in your diary and look out for it.
The Group are also holding a fund-raising cream tea on 28th September at 3pm, at the Old Chapel, Long Cross, where the proposal will also be discussed together with future action the Group can take.
Beckwell Farm
There is still no decision on the appeal against the refusal of planning permission for this turbine.
Ramsdown Hill, Milton Abbot
This is a new application for a 77m [252ft] high turbine above Milton Abbot. The application number is 01013/2014 and the closing date for representations to West Devon Borough Council is 2nd October. It is likely that there will be a public meeting about it on the 24th September, at Milton Abbot village hall. This will be confirmed as soon as possible.
(Please note that the image on the left is not intended to illustrate any of the masts described above)
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Street Sweeping in Chillaton
Over the last year, Chillaton Parish Councillors have been monitoring the number of times roads in the village are cleaned by street-sweeping vehicles. In theory, the roads should be inspected and, if necessary, swept every eight weeks. In practice, it doesn’t seem as though sufficient sweeping has been carried out, especially in the autumn. If the leaves aren’t cleared from the length of road from Marlow Crescent to the pub car park, then people have to walk out in the road, rather than behind the white line, which puts them in more danger from passing vehicles.
What has now been agreed with West Devon Borough Council is that, following an immediate clean up, there will be scheduled sweeps in the week beginning 6th October and 1st December, plus extra visits to deal with the autumn leaves, as the length of road concerned is now flagged up as one that has priority on safety grounds. The regularity of street cleaning will continue to be monitored in 2015.
West Devon has also been asked to look at the amount of grit, etc. on the road by the low wall opposite the garage and down to the Square and see if this can be cleaned out and then added to the regular sweeping runs in future |
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Dogs and Doings
Following an email passed via the Chillaton website, we have been asked to request that dog owners please pick up or otherwise attend to the output of their canine companions. A deterioration has been noted particularly on the road from Chillaton to Marystowe.
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Community Assets
Following reports in the national press that thirty-one pubs in the UK go out of business each week, the Parish Council has looked at whether or not to identify ‘community assets’ such as pubs, village halls, etc and seek their registration, by West Devon Borough Council, under the Localism Act 2011.
Once registered, those ‘community assets’ could not be put up for sale without the local community having the opportunity to decide whether it wanted to make a purchase offer and then having a further six months within which to raise the necessary funds.
The Parish Council thought this idea was worth exploring further, but decided to wait until its next meeting before making a decision. This is to allow parish councillors to identify potential community assets in their area and to seek the views of local residents.
So, what do you think about the idea and what should be included? Please visit the website and use the contact page to let us know. Or you can call the Parish Clerk on 01822 860378. |
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Mobile phone signal boosters
The Parish Council has now considered whether it would support the idea mentioned in the last Newsletter, that Chillaton should apply to join Vodafone’s project to provide free signal boosters to create a 3G phone signal within the village. It would be available to all Vodafone users at no additional cost, but it could not be accessed by those using other mobile service providers.
Although the units are free, they would cost about £30 a year each in electricity charges. Six residents in Chillaton have agreed to host these units and the Parish Council was asked if it would either pay the cost of the electricity, or guarantee any shortfall not made up by other contributions. The maximum cost would be £300 a year, based on ten units.
Because there are several different products with the same purpose currently on offer from other mobile phone service providers and, as this service would be limited to Vodafone users, the Parish Council did not consider it appropriate to meet or underwrite the costs involved.
However, any improvement in mobile signals would be welcome, even if it was not available to all and the Parish Council therefore agreed to support the application to Vodafone, provided they didn’t incur any costs.
Following the decision from the Parish Council we still intend to go ahead with this plan and apply to Vodafone for the boosters. However the plan would be to seek to pay for the boosters via contributions, or by fundraising events. |
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Super Saturday - Tavistock Sports Centre
Tavistock Sports Centre are running a “Super Saturday” event on the 13th September – loads of sports, clubs and activities on offer for people to try out, all for free. The idea is to get people back into a sport they may have not played for a long time, or try something new. Coaches will be on hand to offer advice, tips and routes back into sport. Details are on their website at www.tavistocksportscentre.co.uk |
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