News from Broadhembury Parish Council

Dear Subscriber,

I hope you are staying safe and well.

The pandemic is hugely challenging on a world scale for governments and individuals. Apart from the loss of life which is distressing, there is a massive economic impact, a separation of families, and the anxiety caused by uncertainty.

But what can we do at the parish level?

On 17th-19th March we hand-delivered a letter to households listing the people who had volunteered to be a point of contact in each hamlet. On 30th March EDDC set up a response centre and took responsibility for ‘shielded’ people in the Parish. We cancelled the PC meeting scheduled for 18th March and concluded simple things by Email.

Local Authorities are now permitted by law to hold meetings using virtual conferencing platforms and our next PC on 19th May will be held in this way. The agenda will be published on notice boards and anyone who wants to ‘attend’ should send an email request to the Clerk to obtain the access and log-on details.

The AGM, at which we normally appoint officers will not take place and appointments will run for another year. The Annual Meeting at which we review the year just past will not be held but a written report will be published instead. We hope the PC can meet again in a ‘normal’ capacity in July.

Please tell us if you think we should be doing more now.

This crisis will pass and things will move on. Hopefully, the experience will make us more prepared. What do you think the PC should do to increase local resilience in the future? It is clear for example that a good reliable broadband service makes lock-down more tolerable and the provision of services easier, so with the other 39 parishes in the Blackdown Hills, we have written to the responsible Minister to say so. 

We think First Aid skills are a good thing to have if people are confined to the home and having to fend for themselves, so we are setting up training so that the community has the skills for the future. Some of our climate alleviation ideas might be relevant and could make us more resilient (allotments, compost bins etc) . We will think again about these. If you would like to ‘lead’ on one of these please say so. Please tell us what else we could do.

In the meantime, stay isolated and healthy. You may not think you have the virus but for some days you won’t know for sure. It’s tempting to meet up with friends, family or colleagues but if you don’t live with them, don’t. You are putting yourselves and the community at risk. 

Try to stay positive and healthy. Use the time as best you can. We know if you have lost your job, are concerned about loved ones or feeling isolated, then it is really tough. If you need help and have no one to turn to call us or contact any of the local volunteers listed on notice boards or in the last newsletter.

We hope as many as possible will log in on 19th May. 

Take care,

Bob Nelson
Chairman, Broadhembury Parish Council