Happy Christmas from Broadhembury Parish Council
Dear Subscriber
Memorial Hall Car Park
The work to create an enlarged car park is proceeding. Before we continue, water seepage into the basement of the Hall has to be rectified. The Trustees are working hard on this. We will then mark out parking bays, plant landscaping and create hardstanding for easy-access bays. We will also have an electric vehicle charging point. The car park is already in use, and is providing a much appreciated increase in off road parking and access.
Next year we will submit another Planning Application for low level path lighting in the car park.
Neighbourhood Plan
The final period of consultation before submission has now closed. Minor drafting corrections are being made and the plan will be submitted to EDDC. An Inspector will be appointed and it will be put to a referendum. We hope to pass all these hurdles in 2019.
Finances
At our next meeting we have to agree our income for 2018-19. This is collected as part of the community charge and is shown separately on each household demand. This is called the ‘precept’. Last year it was about £7600 or about £1 a month for everyone on the Electoral Roll in the Parish.
We used this to generate additional grants (for the car park and flooding work, for example). In 2016-17 we generated a further £19,000 from grants for projects. We pay insurance, a salary to The Clerk, the ‘Lengthsman’ (for maintenance work), the cost of the web site, sand for flood defence and other costs. There is not much left! We think it’s good value but we always search for ways to make it go further. Anything we spend over £100 is published on our website, but come along to the January meeting and tell us what you think.
Section 106 Development Agreement
New developments often require the builder to make a contribution to community facilities as a condition of Planning Approval. This payment is called a ‘Section 106 Agreement.'
The Parish Council is in discussion with EDDC about this because some money is due. We don’t know how much yet and there are rules about what we can do with the money. We will discuss this at our January meeting.
Flood Defences
Using grant funding obtained by the Parish Council we have completed a number of projects this year. Our first was to clean out the ditch on the road running towards Danes Mill, this means that the perennial flooding on that road has been removed. Next up was work at St Andrews where the leat needed clearing out and a field entrance re-instating. This involved installing a pair of 12-inch pipes and covering them with stones. The landowner has agreed to re-instate the track over this into the field.
At the same time ditches up to the main A373 from St Andrews were cleared to prevent surface water running down the road. We are grateful for the good offices of Richard Batten for completing these works. At the same Devon Highways did some work to improve the edge of the road down to the ford.
 
 
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