Increasingly, the responsibility for services that we have all taken for granted is being farmed out to local volunteers. This is part of the ‘localism’ move to let local people take control of local matters but, obviously this move fits in well with the shortage of local government resources (i.e. cash) at District and County level. The latest initative is to farm out repairs to our roads. If you fancy a role as the parish’s Road Warden, please see the guidance notes below about the Road Warden and Self-Help schemes before contacting the parish Clerk or Chairman of the parish council. Contact details are posted under the Bigbury Parish Council GROUP.
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Minutes of February’s parish council meeting
The Minutes of the meeting of the parish council meeting of 11th February are available in the DOCUMENTS section of the bigbury Parish Council GROUP.
DOG MESS: BAG IT AND BIN IT!
As a dog owner and parish councillor, I hope to enlist your help in eliminating a scourge of South Hams’ beaches and footpaths. During a walk on the beach at Bigbury-on-Sea and on Burgh Island this week, I was disgusted at the number of black plastic ‘poo’ bags left lying at the side of the path or tied to bushes by irresponsible dog walkers after their pets had performed. These people obviously leave home with the intention of ‘emptying the dog’ because they are equipped with the necessary collection bags but they seem incapable of disposing of the fruits of their pet’s labours in the appropriate bins if they have to carry the full bags for more than a few metres. In Bigbury-on-Sea these bins are perfectly visible at the top of the main beach access points which beach users have to pass en route from the car parks and footways. The excuse that inadequate signage to dog bins is to blame just does not wash; if in doubt, TAKE IT HOME!
Many dog owners/ walkers do not appear to know that the failure to properly dispose of dog waste in a bin is as great an offence as leaving the mess unattended. As the SHDC website clearly states, ‘Dog Fouling is one of the top anti-social problems nationwide. Dog mess is unsightly, unpleasant & can spread disease, or in extreme cases, cause blindness. If you do not ensure that dog mess is picked up AND properly disposed of (my emphasis) a £80- £1000 Penalty may be payable under the District of South Hams Fouling of Land by Dogs Order 2013.
Come on dog walkers, clean up your dog’s act and help keep our beaches and footpaths ‘fit for purpose’ – ‘Bag It & Bin It’ for all our sakes!
MPs slam government broadband plans
Written by Ruralcity Media
RURAL communities are being left behind by the government’s broadband plans, MPs have warned.
The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee fears hard to reach rural communities are being overlooked in the race to upgrade basic internet connections to superfast broadband.
The government wants 95% of the country’s premises to have superfast broadband connections by 2017. But that leaves 5% on slower or non-existent connections.
Committee chair Anne McIntosh MP said: “People living in the hard-to-reach 5% of premises need the same access as the rest to online and digital services.
“There is a risk in the current approach that improving service for those who already have it will leave even further behind the rural farms, businesses and homes who have little or none.”
The report, Rural broadband and digital-only services, was published on Tuesday (3 February).
It raise fears that a focus on improving access for most of the country may leave a minority with little or no ability to use key government services increasingly available only online.
The government plans to transform broadband require 95% of premises to have superfast speeds of 24Mbps by 2017 then, although BT told the committee that the target might slip into 2018.
Miss McIntosh added: “We are concerned that the current broadband rollout targets are based on inaccurate assumptions that universal basic broadband coverage has largely been achieved.
The reality was that many rural communities were still struggling with no access, or slow broadband speeds, she added.
“There is a fear that upgrading the majority who already have access to basic broadband is creating an even bigger gap between those with and those completely without broadband access.”
Speed and delivery are vital components of the broadband rollout plan.
But the committee strongly recommends that the government’s minimum target speed of 2Mbps is too low, must be reassessed and a new minimum speed identified.
Miss McIntosh said: This is a minimum speed commitment to the public and it must reflect modern technological demands, it is not high enough; 10 Mbps is a more suitable target.”
Rural business leaders welcomed the report.
Country Land and Business Association president Henry Robinson said: “We are pleased MPs have listened carefully to the evidence we set out to them.
“The committee is right to conclude that a minimum speed of two Megabits per second (Mbps) is now too slow a speed for modern requirements.
“It is also right to press the government to review this, but it is a shame the report stopped short of calling for a Universal Service Obligation.
“It is clear that rural areas have fallen behind.”
If the government was to level the playing field, it must prioritise hardest-to-reach areas, even if this meant investing in alternative technologies such as satellite, said Mr Robinson.
‘SWAN MAN’: reporting protocol for anti-social behaviour
Recently, there was another incident involving Richard Crafer aka ‘Swan Man’ and his threats to river and Tidal Road users on the Avon estuary. This incident apparently involved Mr Crafer kicking a lady’s dog and threatening her with a rock. There have been numerous similar incidents in the past but the level of threatened violence seems to be escalating. Despite warnings from the police, ’Swan Man’s’ behaviour continues unchanged.
Bigbury Parish Council, the Aune Conservation Association, and the new owners of the Bantham Estate share a common view about this nuisance. The Duchy of Cornwall has asked us to make it very clear that ‘Swan Man’ is not acting as their agent, in any capacity, despite what he may claim.Our first concern is the preservation of free access to the estuary and the Tidal Road for the public. The estuary, of course, is an asset of huge recreational importance. We should all be concerned whenever that recreational experience is spoiled. The local police have become involved because of the very widely reported nuisance behaviour of ‘Swan Man’ – who is spoiling the estuary experience for many users of the water and Tidal Road with his off-putting, personal behaviour whenever he feels that his ‘charges’ may be at risk.
REPORTING PROTOCOL: The police have asked that anybody who feels threatened in any way (and it may be very early in the morning or very late at night, depending on the tides) should immediately report details of the incident on their 101 non-emergency number to log the incident into their records. Please also call local police officers:-
Jo-Pengelly 07921061657 or Dave Gibson 07525617842. Then and most importantly they should call the Anti-Social Behaviour Officer:- John Ward tel. 01803 861252 or john.ward@southhams.gov.uk because he is anxious to build a case to try and rid the estuary of this nuisance.
BURGH ISLAND SOLAR ARRAY – change to planning application 05/2499/14/F
There was extensive local and national interest in the planning application for a solar array on Burgh island when it was first submitted. A ‘visual mitigation measures’ revision to the original scheme has been submitted recently, presumably to persuade the planners to override the multitude of objections to the original scheme when it comes before the Development Management Committee on 15th February. The planning application number is the same – 05/2499/14/F – but the scheme now incorporates a 750mm high bank which, it is claimed, will help to screen the array from public view.
The new scheme is unlikely to receive the same level of publicity and comment as a new application because the original application number has been retained. A modified proposal has been added to the original application on the planning portal of the SHDC website but few people are likely to notice – see
http://apps.southhams.gov.uk/planningsearch/default.aspx?shortid=05%2f2499%2f14%2fF
Bigbury Parish Council has received notification of the change from the Planning Officer at SHDC and will be responding in due course. The parish council has also received an assurance that the multitude of original objections, including our own, will remain valid. However, you may wish to submit your own response to the proposed change at
http://www.southhams.gov.uk/article/609/Commenting-on-a-Planning-Application
Parish precept for 2015-2016
The precept for the next financial year (2015-2016) was increased by £400 to £8000 at a special council meeting in January. The minutes of the meeting and explanation for the increase can be found in DOCUMENTS section of the Bigbury Parish Council GROUP
DEVON OIL COLLECTIVE PRICE
The statistics for this month’S (JANUARY) prices for domestic fuel oil are:
Market Highest 59.9ppl
Market Average 39.5ppl
Internet Price 37.2ppl
Members Price 36.5ppl
(+ vat @5% on all prices)
Note: the Market Highest is the highest price quoted to us by all the suppliers we contact while the Market Average is an average of all the prices quoted. We don’t quote the lowest as that is obviously the price we have negotiated.
If you have a query regarding your oil delivery this should be directed to Marion at info@ofps.org.uk or via your local co-ordinator (Stuart Watts email stuart@bigburycommunity.co.uk).
Marion
Office Telephone: 01993 225011
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