The Aune Conservation Association, an environmental charity charged with conserving the Devonshire Avon, and Bigbury News, your parish news magazine, have both been accepted as worthy organisations for participation in the new SHDC/WDBC, Sea Moor Lotto. Tickets for the lotto will be available from 27th June to help support local causes of your choice. See the link below for more information:-
Posts tagged South Hams
Plan to Protect Public Toilets: NB this will affect BIGBURY-ON-SEA’S car park toilets
Toilets around the South Hams will be kept open thanks to a decision made by the District Council’s Executive this week.
A pay on entry system will now be installed around the District at many toilets; this will go towards their running costs and protect them from closure.
During their recent budget setting process, South Hams District Council agreed to look in detail at what it does with the non-statutory services. Public toilets are one of the services that the Council provides, but are not required to provide. Despite this the Council dearly wants to provide public toilets for the benefit of their residents, tourists and local businesses. This proposal will enable them to do so.
South Hams District Council currently spends close to £1m per annum providing and maintaining public toilets. With a predicted budget gap of £0.3 million, a pay on entry scheme is a way of helping to close the gap but continuing to provide a valuable service.
Cllr Rufus Gilbert, Executive Portfolio Holder for Commercial Services, said: “There’s no doubt that continuing to provide public toilets is important for residents, visitors and businesses in the South Hams. As a result the council was determined to find a way to protect them, despite the enormous pressures on our budget. Many local authorities throughout the UK have had to close their public toilets and rely instead on businesses to provide them – Manchester City Council, one of the largest councils in England, only have one council run public toilet!”
“As the Executive member with the responsibility for public toilets, I take my role very seriously and I have said before that the last thing that I want to do is to be responsible for closing toilets. I visit many of the toilets around the District while I am out and about, when I see something that is not satisfactory I speak to the team to make sure any issues are resolved to the best of our physical and financial ability. Securing additional funding for our toilets will not only help us keep them open but also in good working order.”
The proposed fee is 20p. The busiest toilets have been chosen to have the pay on entry system installed as these have high running costs:
- Bigbury
- Whitestrand
- Creek, Salcombe
- North Sands, Salcombe
- South Sands, Salcombe
- Coronation Road, Totnes
- Steamer Quay, Totnes
- Civic Hall, Totnes
- Fore Street, Kingsbridge
- Slapton Line
- Glanvilles Mill, Ivybridge
- Wembury
- Dittisham
- Mill Bay
- Ferry Steps
Councillors also agreed to look again at the Hope Cove toilets which receives a similarly high number of visitors in peak season.
The pay on entry system is expected to generate £16,000 in 2018/19 and £36,000 by 2019/20, income which will be used to continue to run the toilets.
Mill Bay toilets are a recent addition to the list, while Slapton Memorial toilets have been removed. The recent storm damage at these toilets has left the septic tank very close to the beach and at risk of failing in another storm. This could cause a serious pollution incident. Relocating the tank is unlikely to solve the problem, as well as being very expensive and so these toilets, sadly, will have to close.
Cllr Gilbert continued “The decision to close the toilets at Slapton Memorial has not been taken lightly. Storm Emma had a huge impact on the area and the beach has receded a long way inland very quickly. The old septic tank is now dangerously close to the beach. Relocating it would only be a very expensive temporary measure and so reluctantly, we will have to close the toilets to prevent any risk of pollution on the shore.”
ENDS
Devon Building Control Partnership Launches new Website
Devon Building Control Partnership has launched a new-look website, making it even easier for homeowners and professionals to book site visits, submit applications online, request a quote and much more.
The website has been created to be more accessible and easy to use through desktop computers, mobile phones or tablets. Building professionals and homeowners will be able to access information quicker and will be able to subscribe to newsletters, access a property register for Building regulations, look up fees and charges and find out about business events
Devon Building Control Partnership is made up of Teignbridge District Council, South Hams District Council and West Devon Borough Council. The experienced team of chartered surveyors, building engineers and fire engineers cover all three districts and offers a fast, reliable service for plan checking and inspections through a highly experienced team with vast local knowledge.
The Partnership works closely with the building industry to ensure that buildings are designed to comply through pre-application advice, plan checking and an inspection programme.
Cllr Michael Hicks, Vice Chairman of South Hams District Council and South Hams’ representative at Devon Building Control, said: “This new look website will be invaluable in informing and advising customers of the services provided by Devon Building Control, and is much easier and quicker to navigate. If you’re in the middle of a challenging and stressful building project, a clear and understandable website is essential. I’m certain that customers will be very pleased.”
Andrew Carpenter, Head of Devon Building Control Partnership, said: “I am delighted with the new look website. We know that people now want to use websites on phones and tablets so we’ve revamped the design to make it much easier for people to use on those devices as well as a laptop or mobile. The previous website had served us well but was starting to show its age. We’ve simplified things and made it faster to use and easier to navigate. Information is now much clearer and understandable.
“The redesign is aimed to make sure the site is much more accessible to customers and meets modern expectations as well as being a place where people can find out more about our services. This an online ‘shop window’ will help us improve how we promote and sell activities across the area we cover and operate more commercially and effectively in a very competitive industry.
“Our new website is part of our commitment to providing a great service to customers as well as showcasing the Partnership as a business populated by friendly, qualified surveyors and skilled officers who can offer impartial advice and assistance to homeowners, agents, architects, developers and other professionals on matters relating to building regulations.”
The bespoke website was built by IT professionals working in Strata Service Solutions Ltd, the joint ICT partnership shared across Teignbridge, Exeter and East Devon councils, with expertise and support from officers working for Teignbridge. The look and feel was designed by Made With Maturity, a web design and digital marketing company based in Plymouth.
Laurence Whitlock, IT Director at Strata Service Solutions Ltd, said: “This project gave Strata an excellent opportunity to work with Devon Building Control Partnership to use our experienced web developers to produce a professional and commercial quality web site.”
Visit www.devonbuildingcontrol.gov.
The website also contains details about the team and a section where people can leave feedback.
ENDS
SOUTH HAMS’ AIR QUALITY
Tell your Council what you think
19/04/18
The quality of the air in South Hams and West Devon is generally very good. However, there are three locations in South Hams where the air quality fails to meet the national and international levels for Nitrogen Dioxide. These areas are categorised as Air Quality Management Areas (AQMAs).
Both Councils have a legal responsibility to produce an air quality action plan and because of this both South Hams District Council and West Devon Borough Council are exploring ways that we can protect and improve air quality with a focus on the Air Quality Management Areas.
To enable them to do this they have produced a Clean Air Strategy, which brings together all of the councils proposed actions for managing air quality.
The strategy was scrutinised by ‘Executive’ at South Hams and the ‘Hub’ Committee in West Devon, with an agreement to carry out a public consultation before any decisions are taken about what course of action might be the best way forward.
Now the Councils are about to embark on an initial 8 week consultation on the Clean Air Strategy, looking at the proposals and considering what we can do about it together.
Leader of South Ham District Council, Cllr John Tucker said: “We have been working with Devon County and Highways England as well as our own officers to produce this document. If is a really important piece of work that recognise the role that Planning Authorities can have in off-setting the impact of developments.”
Leader of West Devon Borough Council Cllr Philip Sanders added: “This is an opportunity for you to not only tell us what you think of the strategy but also to tell us of any ideas you may have for potential solutions to poor air quality. So please do give us your thoughts and ideas and we will discuss them with our partner agencies after the consultation closes.”
The Councils’ recognise that national policy is promoting ultralow emission vehicles and in light of this the strategy also seeks to support the infrastructure that is required to make this possible, such as electric charging points for cars.
It also recognises the benefits that cycling and walking can have both on air quality and on the health of residents and as a result the councils will also be exploring ways to improve cycling and pedestrian networks between villages, towns and communities.
The consultation starts on the 20 April and runs to the 20 June. All of the comments and ideas will be explored and discussed before a final Air Quality Strategy is presented to both Councils later in the year.
The air quality team are happy to discuss the options available, and hope to attend Town and Parish Councils in the air quality management areas.
To provide feedback please email: air.quality@swdevon.
For more information visit:
https://www.southhams.gov.uk/
https://www.westdevon.gov.uk/
Update on Slapton Line situation
See thie following link for further information:-
Recycling tips for plastic tops and jar lids in South Hams
See this link for helpful detail and access to further informations:-
Launching the SeaMoor Lotto
South Hams District Council and West Devon Borough Council are calling out to all community groups, charities, and good causes in the area who might be interested in being part of a new council run Lottery initiative.
The SeaMoor Lotto is a new venture which is being led by the councils to provide a way for local good causes to raise funds.
60% of all money raised will go towards local good causes, 20% of ticket sales will be put towards prizes and 20% will go towards the running costs.
Now the councils want to hear from any interested parties, so that they can be invited to a launch event in May and find out how to sign up to become part of the SeaMoor Lotto.
Cllr Neil Jory, West Devon Borough Council’s Hub Lead Member for the Lottery explains: “This is a win win situation. The local charities and groups who sign up to be part of the lottery will be able to raise money for their own projects; we will be able to support local good causes with the proceeds of the lottery and the members of the public who buy tickets stand a chance of winning a monetary prize of up to £25k”
Cllr Keith Wingate, South Hams Executive Portfolio Holder for Business Development added: “Local authority run lotteries are working very well for many other communities around the country. We are working with Gatherwell, the company who manage lottery initiatives nationwide and will provide the know-how. Their mission is to help good causes raise money, their first project was a schools lottery, helping schools across the UK deal with increasing austerity pressures, now they help a wide range of local causes from local community centres to Age UK. With their support and guidance we are in safe hands and will be delivering a lottery service for our community and charity sector that will benefit everybody.”
Lottery tickets will only be sold via the internet and tickets will cost £1 each per draw. When a player buys a ticket they will opt to support a specific good cause or contribute to the community fund – the latter will be administered by the Council.
The draw will take place every Saturday evening at 8:00p.m and as with other lotteries the more numbers matched the bigger the prize.
South Hams District Council and West Devon Borough Council expect to launch the SeaMoor lotto to the public in this summer.
So if you are a charity, community organisation, or a good cause based in the South Hams or West Devon and you would be interested to find out how to get involved please email lotto@swdevon.gov.uk stating your cause and your contact details. We will add you to our information list and invite you to the launch event for good causes.
ENDS
Warren Cottage and Bay View Cafe, Marine Drive, Bigbury on Sea
Valerie Scott, Chair of Bigbury’s Neighbourhood Planning Group, has asked that her letter to Matt Jones (SHDC, Planning Officer), on the topic of the proposed demolition of Warren Cottage and Bay View Cafe, be made publicly available – as follows. Valerie’s diligence sets a fine example of the standards that we ought to be able to expect from all Development Management staff working for our District Council.
Date: 20 March 2018 at 16:54:46 GMT
To: ‘Matt Jones’ <Matt.Jones@swdevon.gov.uk>, Rachel Head <Rachel.Head@swdevon.gov.uk>
Matt
I have just looked at the Council’s application website and the ability to comment on line in respect of the new information provided by the applicants seems to be unavailable although I have been advised that further comments can be made. I am therefore sending my further comments to you by email and would advise you that the Bigbury Parish Council have also commissioned a report from JFA Ecology which will be sent to you early next week.
The further comments which I have relate to all three applications 0430/18/PAD, 0406/18/PAD and 0470/18/PAA and in particular to the letter sent by Ashfords dated 27 February 2018 and the Southwest Knotweed Report dated 21 February 2015.
As you will see I am still concerned about the proposed demolition of these buildings prior to the eradication of the Japanese Knotweed. This latest report does not provide any further evidence about the likely extent of Japanese knotweed on the site and without this knowledge demolition should not be allowed. I am particularly surprised that Southwest Knotweed refer only to the Acorn Ecology Report dated August 2015 with no reference to the Environet October 2015 Report which showed the extent of Japanese knotweed to be considerably more extensive. The lack of any reference to this report is also of concern as it is possible that the landowner has not advised Southwest Knotweed of the existence of this later and more detailed report. The applicants have also not submitted or referred to the Environet Report in their earlier submissions and failed to address the issues raised in this report despite the repeated references which have been made to it in our representations.
Please could you place these further representations on your website and ensure that access to the comments box on the application website is made available for other people to be able to make representations. Please acknowledge receipt.
Regards
Valerie
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