Dartmoor Forest Parish Council
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dartmoor forest parish council
december correspondence

15.   Disposal of Arisings from Volunteers
Dear Nigel
Regarding leaf disposal for volunteers, it’s wonderful to hear of people being public spirited but we are absolutely unable to support them working on highways for safety reasons. The same goes for litter picking.
Both these functions are carried out on adopted highways by our contractors who have benefit of appropriate training and insurance. Our leaf sweeping schedules cover most areas and although it takes us a while to get round all the routes, please feel free to report any areas that are particularly bad and we’ll try to bring up the order.
If leaves are safely collected by volunteers, we can only take them through the domestic garden waste collection in the standard bags as you mention. Each household can have up to 4 bags however and by collaborating in winter it should be possible to dispose of plenty of material that way. The other alternative would be to take them as garden waste to the recycling centre at Tavistock or Okehampton.
Kind regards
Jill Skelton
Street Care Manager
West Devon and South Hams Councils
01822 813654

14.   Christmas card from Geoffrey Cox MP.

13. B3212 Repairs
The patching works are QA and at a satisfactory  standard, they are also guaranteed.  I am not sure but the complaints might be about the temporary repairs on the potholes and scabbing areas. As implied, these are only temporary repairs as it is not cost effective to carry out more substantial work due to the fact that we will be re-surfacing them soon. 
I hope this helps.
John Doswell
Neighbourhood Highway Officer, Ivybridge Neighbourhood Highways Team 
Devon County Council, Highway Management
NEWTON ABBOT
TQ12 9GL
Tel: 0835 155 1004; Email: csc.roads@devon.gov.uk

12.  DALC advice on the investment of reserves
Dear Nigel – the first thing to say is that I am not qualified or insured to act as a financial adviser. However there are some basic principles I can comment on – firstly it is important that parish council money is always invested in the name of the parish council, not in any individuals name – you can imagine the great risk of placing parish council money in the name of an individual, no matter what good will and understanding there was at the beginning of the arrangement.
I do understand the frustration of not earning interest on funds – at the moment I don’t know of any reputable funds that would be of use to you. The council can invest in fixed rate longer term investments but you have to be aware of the terms in the Practitioners Guide ie that any investment of a term longer than a year then becomes a capital sum with all the restrictions that means – also £20K is not a large amount from an investment point of view so getting access to such funds would be difficult.
Sorry not to be more helpful – regards Lesley 

11.   Saint Gabriel’s Parish Church Postbridge - Memorial Plaque
The District Church Council of the above named church would like to erect a memorial plaque in the church in commemoration of the Postbridge men who lost their lives in World War One, and then at a later date we would like to add the names of those who lost their lives in the Second World War.  The plaque size we are looking at would be no more than 20” x 20” and would be engraved brass mounted onto a suitable hardwood and fixed to an interior granite wall.
Having been in touch with a local engraver, it is estimated that the cost would be roughly £200.
We would like to respectfully submit this as an application for funding from Dartmoor Forest Parish Council and hope that we may be favourably considered.
Thank you
S J Hammett
Secretary
Postbridge District Church Council 


10.  Dartmoor Farmers Association Newsletter
dfa_newsletter.pdf
File Size: 134 kb
File Type: pdf
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9.  Dartmoor Hill Farm Project Newsletter
november_2014_newsletter_v1.pdf
File Size: 2413 kb
File Type: pdf
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8.  Enterprise Opportunities for Women
Dear Colleagues               
Please find attached details of a series of free opportunities aimed at women interested in starting or progressing with their own businesses.  Please would you forward this message and attached information leaflet to any community groups, village halls or others in your local community who might be interested.  If possible please print a copy or copies of the attached poster to display in public places in your local community such as notice boards.
This is an initiative being led by the Community Council of Devon and is funded through the Local Enterprise Partnership – Heart of The South West Business Support Programme.  For more information please visit:  
http://www.devonrcc.org.uk/c/117/women-led-enterprise-programme-2014-15
Many, many thanks for your help,
Yours Faithfully
Nemo Shaw
Senior Project Officer telephone 01392 248919
www.devonrcc.org.uk
Community Council of Devon
First Floor, 3 & 4 Cranmere Court
Lustleigh Close, Matford Business Park
Exeter EX2 8PW

7.  WDBC Strategic Planning
Dear Town and Parish Clerks,
Thank you to those of you who have already confirmed attendance at the next Town and Parish Council workshop on the 5th December.  There are still places available for other councillors and any neighbourhood planning group members who wish to come along. 
Please see below the original email and attachment from Cllr Sanders for more information. 
To confirm attendance, please email me or strategic.planning@westdevon.gov.uk.

6.   “Tough Choices – Community Solutions”
Dear Colleague,
We are running a free event coming up which could well be of interest to you: 
“Tough Choices – Community Solutions” (on the afternoon of Thursday 4th December at our offices in Exeter).
 We are bringing together people from different organisations who are considering taking on assets or services (for example libraries, youth services, day centres, etc…).   
The event aims to help foster sharing of skills, experience, useful information and know-how, and for us as a support organisation to better understand the needs that you have moving forward so we can find ways to provide the support you need.   On the day there will be:  
•         A workshop to help explore the terrain
•         Questions and answers with an experienced group who are well on the way with a project to take over the running of the Topsham Library
•         A presentation on support options and the funding landscape
•         Opportunities to network with other groups/individuals which may benefit your projects progression
•         TBC input from Devon County Council 
Booking is essential so please complete and return the attached pdf booking form and return to info@devonrcc.org.uk.  If you have have any difficulties with the booking form do not hesitate to contact us on 01392 248919.
 Please feel free to share with others you know who may be interested.
 Contact Nemo Shaw Social Enterprise Advisor or Dawn Eckhart Enterprise Manager for more information.
 nemo@devonrcc.org.uk , dawn@devonrcc.org.uk
 

5.  Consultation on Planning Regulations for Travelers & Gypsies
To be fair equally to both settled and traveler communities; further strengthen protection of our sensitive areas and Green Belt; and address the negative impact of unauthorised occupation.
planninggov_consultation_define_gt_planning5112014.pdf
File Size: 122 kb
File Type: pdf
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4.  Consultation on Mobile Phone Coverage to tackle 'not-spots' may improve Dartmoor Mobile Coverage
mobilephoneconsultationautumn2014.pdf
File Size: 623 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File


3.   Request for prisoners to assist with Princetown Churchyard
Dear Mr Tigwell, Thank you for your letter dated 4th November  ref the Church grounds and graveyard. I am sorry to say that I fully support the Community and Princetown but at this time we do not have prisoners working out on the Farm to support this project. We currently employ only 2 prisoners in the Museum and looking at the area on Sunday it will take a number of prisoners to clear this area. This is due to tighter controls on ROTL prisoners and Dartmoor is changing into a working prison and not a Resettlement prison therefore we do not have the prisoners who can go outside to work. I am in talks with the Community Service team and I will mention this area to them as I also do not wish for this area to be lost to the community of Princetown. If the above fails, I will be speaking to HMP Channing’s Wood about their prisoners coming over to Dartmoor to work outside and I if this happens I will happily re-look at this project.
If I can help further please contact me on the numbers below.
Thank you
Steve Phillips
Temp Band 7 -  Steven Phillips
Head of Reducing Re-Offending,
HMP Dartmoor

2.  Government plans put new affordable housing at "serious risk" in National Parks
England's ten National Parks have expressed their concern at Government proposals that put at risk their ability to achieve more affordable housing in National Parks. In an unusual step, all ten have written to Communities Secretary of State, Eric Pickles MP asking for changes to the Government's proposals for reforming Section 106 agreements.  Read more

1. Public consultation event - Chagford Masterplan 
Land between Lower Street and Westcott Lane
2pm - 8pm Wednesday 19 November 2014
Jubilee Hall, Chagford
C G Fry & Son Ltd are holding a "drop-in" session to show the community detailed designs for this scheme for around 90 dwellings, employment units, a car park, toilets and a new fire station.   An application is already being considered for the Blue Cedar Homes development; the event on 19 November will enable the community to see how C G Fry & Son Ltd propose the rest of the site will be developed.
All are welcome to attend and express their views.

©  Dartmoor Forest Parish Council 2014
Photograph credits N K Tigwell unless otherwise stated
Picture