News, views and Events in and around Bigbury, South Devon

Posts by Stuart Watts

South Hams Recycling Update

July 8, 2021 Leave a Comment Written by Stuart Watts

8 July 2021
Following a period of intense activity by South Hams District Council and the introduction of some temporary service changes, the number of collections being missed by the Council’s waste and recycling contractors FCC Environmental has dramatically reduced.

In the last few months, many residents in South Hams have experienced significant disruption to their recycling service, as the contractors tried to roll-out a new kerbside recycling service.

At the peak of the disruption in mid-May, the Council was receiving about 255 reports of collections been missed every day.

The good news is that by the end of last week, that number had dropped to about 64 missed collection reports per day. At the same time, the number of people phoning the contact centre had also reduced by approximately 36%.

Cllr Keith Baldry Executive Member for Recycling and Waste said: “Whilst it is clear from these statistics that there has been an improvement in performance, I think that there are still an unacceptable number of collections being missed.

“Our focus in the last few weeks has been to get everybody a collection on the day that they are meant to have a collection, although it was not the recycling service that we had promised.

“I am pleased the situation has improved but there is still more work to be done.

“The Executive has been very robust with FCC throughout this disruption. They have now requested that FCC continue to deliver more significant and sustained improvements to reduce the number of missed collections further before we consider reinstating the full Devon Aligned kerbside collection service to all residents.”

South Hams District Council will continue to monitor the daily performance of the service. The Executive continue to express to FCC that they must focus on the complex and repeat missed collection issues, as well as key priorities such as those households who need assisted collections.

FCC have committed to producing the next steps of their action plan on July 12th.

This will detail a plan for the systematic review of the existing rounds and a detailed plan to roll-out the Devon Aligned Kerbside Recycling Collection Service to all of the residents in the District.

These plans and any progress on them will be reviewed by Officers and the Lead Member and reported back to Council as soon as possible.

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How do you feel about Rewilding?

July 8, 2021 Leave a Comment Written by Stuart Watts

8 July 2021

Many Town, Parish and District Councils around the country are turning to a concept called rewilding, letting some green and grassy areas return to a more natural state. The aim for many of these Councils is to increase the amount of biodiversity and wildlife locally.

As a District Council, South Hams currently manages about 50 hectares of green space which is cut every couple of weeks.

Today, the Council are launching a consultation to explore what the public thinks about the Council enabling rewilding on a small proportion of this land. (10Ha for a biodiversity led approach, and 3.5Ha for wildflower meadows).
In 2019 South Hams District Council declared a Climate Change and Biodiversity Emergency.

Across the UK, many habitats which are important for supporting wildlife have already been lost. For example, 97% of wildflower meadows have been lost since the 1930s, with a knock on impact on the species which rely on these habitats.

The abundance of habitat specialist butterflies has declined by 68% since 1976 for example.

As part of their declaration and to mitigate against such biodiversity loss, South Hams has said it aims to increase biodiversity on Council owned-land by at least 10% by 2025.
Creating and restoring more biodiverse green spaces and enabling rewilding of some Council owned land, could help the Council reach its biodiversity targets and significantly improve conditions for local wildlife.

This consultation is proposing an approach which could see the Council proactively manage 10Ha land as wilder green space, 3.5Ha of land as wildflower areas, and 3.5Ha of new tree planting. This could support pollinators, as well as wildlife such as reptiles, small mammals, amphibians, birds and even bats.
Cllr Tom Holway, South Hams District Council’s Executive Member for Climate Change, said: “In 2019 we made a very important declaration, namely we declared a climate change and biodiversity emergency. This means that we made a commitment to proactively do things that could halt the progress of climate change and biodiversity loss.

“This idea of rewilding is a great way for Councils to make a big difference locally. In reality, South Hams actually owns a small proportion of the green spaces in the District, only around 50 hectares and we are proposing to do this on about 1/3 of that.

“However, I am excited about the difference this could make, and it would be wonderful to get local communities engaged in this process and for them to see these habitats change and grow over the coming year.

“This consultation is all about understanding what the public thinks about this idea and if they would be supportive of it in general terms.”
The Council recognises that some members of our community may be concerned about uncut grasses looking untidy or neglected.

However, the proposals suggest that the areas selected for rewilding would still be carefully managed, often with cut grass framing the area, paths cut through longer grass and clear signposting to show everyone which grassed areas are part of the scheme.

If the consultation returns a favourable response to the concept of rewilding some Council owned land in South Hams, a proposals map will be available in the autumn , and in some cases there may be more site level consultation over the specific detail of proposals to ensure the approach fits with the aspirations of local residents.

Through this experience and the consultation, South Hams would also be able to support and offer advice to Town and Parish Councils who are also considering allocating space to rewilding.
For more information on the proposal and to have your say visit:

www.engagement.southhams.gov.uk/enhancingbiodiversity

Or to read more about South Hams District Council’s Climate Change Declaration, visit:

www.climatechange.southhams.gov.uk/climate-declaration

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Fatal Collision – Modbury

July 8, 2021 Leave a Comment Written by Stuart Watts

Appeal for witnesses

Police investigating a single vehicle collision involving a Vauxhall Vivaro van and a pedestrian in Modbury, in which a man died, are appealing for witnesses to come forward.
The police and ambulance services were called to Broad Street, Modbury, following a report of a single vehicle collision at around 11.45am, on Tuesday 6 July.
A 93-year-old local man sustained a serious head injury and was taken to Derriford Hospital, where he died a short time later.
His next of kin have been informed.
If you witnessed the incident, have any information or dashcam footage that could help the police with their enquiries, please email 101@dc.police.uk or call 101, quoting log number 0356 of Tuesday 6 July.
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Please note that this message was sent by Devon and Cornwall Police.

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Scam Information

July 8, 2021 Leave a Comment Written by Stuart Watts

Scam calls with matching numbers

The National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) is warning the public to be vigilant of scam calls that appear to be coming from numbers similar to their own. Commonly, the first seven digits (07nnnnn) match the victim’s own number. The calls impersonate well-known government organisations, or law enforcement agencies, and will ask the recipient of the call to “press 1” in order to speak with an advisor, or police officer, about unpaid fines or police warrants.

In May 2021, Action Fraud received 2,110 scam call reports where the caller’s number matched the first seven digits of the victim’s own phone number. Of these, 1,426 (68%) referred to HMRC or National Insurance.

Victims have also reported receiving these types of calls, and messaging, via widely-used messaging apps, such as WhatsApp.

What you need to do:

Government and law enforcement agencies will not notify you about unpaid fines or outstanding police warrants by calling or texting you. Do not respond to any calls or texts you receive about these.

Always take a moment to stop and think before parting with money or your personal information, it could prevent you from falling victim to fraud. Remember, it’s okay to reject, refuse or ignore any requests. Only criminals will try to rush or panic you.

If you receive a suspicious text message, you can report it by forwarding the message to 7726. It’s free of charge.

Suspicious telephone/mobile calls can be reported to Action Fraud via their website: actionfraud.police.uk/report-phishing

For more information about how to protect yourself online, visit www.cyberaware.gov.uk and www.takefive-stopfraud.org.uk and follow @DC_CyberProtect on Twitter.
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Please note that this message was sent by Devon and Cornwall Police.

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PARISH COUNCIL MEETING – AGENDA for 14th July 2021

July 7, 2021 Leave a Comment Written by Stuart Watts

The Agenda is available in the following file:- Agenda 2021-07-14

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AFFORDABLE HOUSING SCHEME DETAILS – St Ann’s Chapel

July 1, 2021 Leave a Comment Written by Stuart Watts

Details of the affordable housing scheme at StAnn’s Chapel are available in the link below and on the Parish Council page: >PARISH COUNCIL>DOCUMENTS>AFFORDABLE HOUSING>SELECT FILE.

‘s Chapel Community-led affordable housing scheme 2021 07 01

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Investigation Continues Into Death of Woman In Salcombe

July 1, 2021 Leave a Comment Written by Stuart Watts

Appeal for information

Police investigating the unexplained death of a woman in Salcombe are appealing for information from the public to help trace her last movements.

Officers were called at around 5pm, on Sunday 27 June after the body of a woman was located in a wooded area near Bennett Road. Police believe the body may have been there for some days.

The woman has now been identified by police as Mee Kuen Chong, 67, who was also known as Deborah and was originally from Malaysia but has been living in the Wembley area of London since 2004.

Mrs Chong was last seen in London on Thursday 10 June and reported missing to the Metropolitan Police on Friday 11 June.

Police are investigating the circumstances around Mrs Chong’s death and are now appealing for information from the public to help trace her last movements.

They are particularly keen to hear from anyone who may have seen Mrs Chong between Thursday 10 June and Sunday 27 June.

This would include any hotels or bed and breakfast accommodation where she may have stayed and also from anyone who knows why she was in Salcombe.

A number of enquiries will be carried out in Salcombe over the coming days, and it is likely that the local community will continue to see a high level of police activity.

Police would like to reassure the public that while this discovery may cause some concerns in the community, the heightened police presence is to investigate all of the circumstances.

If anyone has any information which could assist the enquiry, please email 101@dc.police.uk or telephone 101, quoting reference number 0700 of Sunday 27 June.

Please note that this message was sent by Devon and Cornwall Police.

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Scam Information

June 30, 2021 Leave a Comment Written by Stuart Watts

We would like to make residents aware of a scam in circulation that we have received reports of.
This scam involves a resident receiving a cold call from someone purporting to be from a mobile phone company giving details of an offer on a mobile phone contract with a new handset.
A mobile phone is then delivered to the resident which is different from the one offered in the original call, the resident receives another call from the fraudster stating that the wrong phone was sent and an address is given for it to be sent to.
Please be wary of this scam. If you are looking for a new contract or mobile phone please do not take the word of a cold caller as genuinely being from that Company, do not give any personal information.
After receiving a cold call please wait ten minutes before making another call, or make sure the line has cleared by phoning a friend/family member.
If you believe you may have been a victim to this scam please phone the Company that the phone has been sent from, by finding the number from a reliable source.
If you have given out any financial information please phone your bank or building society immediately and then make contact with Action Fraud https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/ or telephone 0300 123 2040.
If you have concerns please phone 101 or email 101@dc.police.uk
Thank you.

Please note that this message was sent by Devon and Cornwall Police.

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