News from Broadhembury Parish Council

What’s your Parish Council doing?

Dear Subscriber,

You will be pleased to read that this is nothing about Coronavirus. We dealt with that in the last newsletter. This is a summary of issues the PC is working on and why. We were not able to hold our last regular PC meeting but this is some of the stuff we would have talked about.

Neighbourhood Plan



We have been in discussion with East Devon District Council for about two years to try to get them to agree to what we want in the plan. We have made some progress, and national policy has changed too in our favour. If we need ‘affordable’ housing then we would prefer to develop it away from Broadhembury village. However, EDDC’s Local Plan favours sites close to services (shop, school, pub etc). This is changing and ‘close’ is now defined in terms of cycle distance. However, if two sites were in competition, one very close and one further away they would still favour the closer. This is a risk for us.

The only way we can prevent a developer seeking permission on a site we don’t want is to form a Community Land Trust,(CLT) assess the need then build ‘affordable’ housing owned and managed by the community for the community in perpetuity. If there is no need for affordable housing then no-one can build. If there is a need and we are not ready to respond then others will respond opportunistically to it.

There is a catch. We don’t know how to do this and it needs to be set up by a body independent of the PC. We need your help. If you are good at reading complex documents and especially if you have finance or company secretary skills then we need you. Some people have volunteered to start studying the subject and we would like more. When we can meet again we will form these people into a formal task group to advise the PC on what and how to proceed. If you can help please tell The Clerk. Full minutes of the last two PC meetings and an exchange of Emails on this subject are published on the web site.

There are over 300 CLT’s in the UK, so there is some experience. There is a successful one in Beer and elsewhere in Devon and we can meet with any of them when we can meet again.

Broadband



Two people, representing the Blackdown Hills Parish Network, to which we belong, met with the Minister at DCMS responsible for national broadband. They told him of our lack of confidence in Connecting Devon and Somerset (CDS), the organisation responsible for awarding contracts for the roll-out of full-fibre to properties. He said that he would watch their performance closely and was committed to helping. Let us see.

In the meantime, Gigaclear (the fibre to the property provider) has confirmed that they will do no more work having had their contract with CDS terminated. In fact, they had got as far as Awliscombe but that’s where it will end if they complete connections.

This has been a disappointing story for about six years but we will keep trying.

From this month there is a ‘universal service obligation‘ (USO) to provide ‘A decent broadband service’ if your speed is below 10Mbps. There is a catch. If delivering this costs more than £3400 then the customer has to pay the difference. If your speed is slow, take a look at this page for more information.

Climate Alleviation Plan



Before Christmas, we created a list of 20 possible things we could do locally to do our bit to help alleviate climate change. That list was generated ‘live’ at our meeting. We then constructed a questionnaire asking you to vote.

The results were as follows: Top of the list was establishing a tree nursery with the village school. As it happens Cllr Adam Powell is already working with the school on tree planting so we will enlarge that joint work. We also will have opportunities to plant trees with school children over the next year. Equal second were the ideas to establish a repair café (like Hemyock) and facilitate a ‘green’ electricity purchase group. Fourth was a clothing recycling centre and fifth the supply of composting bins. Equal sixth was a free water tap and allotments. 

If anyone reading this would like to take on making one of these ideas happen please say so and we will try to secure funding and support you doing it. None of these ideas will change the World but every small step is progress. Ironically CO2 emissions and other gasses responsible for global warming throughout the world have dropped dramatically as people work from home and travel less.

The Blackdown Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (BHAONB)

All AONB’s and National Parks were subject to a review last year. This review, called the Glover review ( after the person who led it) produced some innovative recommendations. It’s worth a read. For example that there should be a national service which provides park rangers ( like in US National Parks), access should be improved and the responsibilities of both NP’s and AONB’s should be more aligned. Of course, present concerns of government make it unlikely that any of this will be enacted soon, so the report may go the way of others and sink without trace. 

The BHAONB is, despite this doing some interesting projects. ‘Connecting the Culm’ is a project to improve water quality and flooding on the River Culm. It rises in Churchstanton/Hemyock, flows through the site of the new garden village at Cullompton then into Exeter (joining the Exe) and then out to sea. It’s a big project with EC funding and the BHAONB is the lead body.

Discovering Dunkeswell Abbey is an archaeological project to ‘map’ the abbey with modern technology. The last survey was conducted in the 1950s when technology was different. This survey has shown that the abbey was a large community with an associated fish farm, saddlery, blacksmith and pottery. They were prosperous and comfortable. It’s not surprising the Henry VIII dissolved them all in 1540. If you have been there you will know that it is set in a beautiful secluded valley. They were very comfortable and a bit too powerful.



Dulford Traffic

Residents of Dulford are concerned about the speed and volume of traffic on the A373. As housing grows in Cullompton it is likely that traffic will increase. Their concerns are justified. Traffic roars past ignoring speed signs very close to front doors and people on the ‘pavement’. We are committed to helping them resolve this. It has been a concern since 1999 but we think if their demands are specific and selective, and if we can mobilise national interest then we and they could make a break-through. 

Memorial Hall Car Park



We have noticed how people use the car park when it is full and made some alterations to benefit from this. It can now accommodate five more cars and we can have a bit more planting which is good for the planet. Here is the prepared bed. It will look better when planted.

The project was funded by a grant from Ian Chubb, our County Councillor from a fund set aside for small projects locally.

The Memorial Hall team have developed a wonderful new website too - https://broadhemburymemorialhall.co.uk/

How to Contact Us

Non-Medical Emergency Telephone Number: 01404 384747
clerk@broadhembury-pc.gov.uk