Please see image of updated diversion route for the attached road closure notice.
Road Closure Notice – Weare Giffard Cross to Rakeham Toll House Cross (updated Diversion)As administrator for the Commons Allotments Charity, Great Torrington Town Council has allocated a total of £5,489.99 Grant Funding to local community groups for the 2026 – 2027 financial year. Members also allocated grant funding totalling £27,650 from the precept for 2026/27. A full list of grant recipients can be viewed on the Town Council’s website.
As per last year, Members decided to keep a pot of reserve grant funding to be made available during the period 1st April 2026 – 31st March 2027 for adhoc or urgent requests for funding throughout the year.
Great Torrington Town Council – 2026/2027 Budget
At the January Town Council Meeting Members agreed the budget and the precept for the 2026/27 financial year. This year there is an increase of 9.92% on the Town Council element of council tax bills for the period 1st April 2026 – 31st March 2027.
The increase of 9.92% equates to an increase of £9.32 per year for a Band A property, £10.88 per year for a Band B, £12.43 per year for Band C, and £13.99 per year for a Band D property compared to last year. These figures relate to the Great Torrington Town Council element of your overall council tax bill only.
The Town Council element of the council tax is the smallest element of the bill, so although the percentage increase is higher than previous years the amount of money it will cost per household for the whole year remains low. The increase reflects a general increase of costs to the council for all services including staffing, health & safety, fuel, rent, IT, buildings maintenance and events. The town council is also incorporating additional spending in this financial year, including CCTV installation & monitoring and the need to move to a new maintenance unit.
Councillors strive to keep the increase as low as possible each year and during financial year 25/26 spent/committed a considerable sum from general reserves to support local organisations and maintain or improve services available to the community. The impact of Local Government Reorganisation is likely to mean that the scope of Town & Parish Councils will change significantly over the next couple of years, and this will mean that costs will increase further, and therefore the current level of reserves needs to be maintained going into the 26/27 financial year to enable the council to prepare for the potential expansion of its service.
Many households in Great Torrington are Band A or B and for those properties the increase is around £10 for the year: this is less than the average takeaway portion for one person and around the same price as a chain-brand takeaway coffee and a sandwich. For a Band D property, the increase is less than £15 for the 12 months, which is around the same price as a single portion of a hotel carvery, a new hardback book or three pints of beer.
Full details of increases for all bands will be available on the Council’s website in due course.
The Mayor, Cllr Phil Cloke was delighted to attend Doreen Turner’s 100th birthday celebrations at Woodland Vale on Friday 19th December during which he presented her with flowers and enjoyed spending some time talking with her – he honestly couldn’t believe that she was 100 years old!
He would like to thank the staff at Woodland Vale and Doreen’s family and friends for making him feel so welcome.
It feels very strange to say that I have been a town councillor for 10 years, it almost doesn’t seem possible, but I have thoroughly enjoyed every second. I appreciate the opportunity to reintroduce myself and talk about my passions as a Town Councillor.
Being Great Torrington born and bred, I love our town and as soon as I was old enough, I knew I wanted to do my bit to get involved and keep our town great, so the election year after my 18th birthday, I stood for a seat on the Town Council. I quickly joined the environment committee and that is where a lot of my interests still lie. I introduced the Town Tidy initiative to get our town ready for Mayfair each year and, after a year off having my daughter Edie, I’m looking forward to getting back into the swing of council work, and particularly our Town Tidy events.
Working locally, I like that people feel they can approach me and I will strive to help where I can, whether that be dealing with the issue myself or contacting the correct authority that can. I am very proud to serve our town and to have served two terms as Mayor, even if most of my term was during Covid. At that time, our town pulled together in the most amazing way and, despite not having a ‘normal’ year, seeing how we all came together and supported one another was one of the highlights of my term in office! I do hope to take up the role again at some point… just maybe when Edie is a little bit older!
In short, we have such a special town, and I look forward to continuing to work with the rest of our council team to keep it great!
Great Torrington Town Council and the Torrington Branch of the Royal British Legion would like to extend a big thank you to all community groups and everyone who attended the Remembrance parade and service held on Sunday November 9th 2025, just over £335 was raised from the collection buckets on the day.
We would also like to thank everyone who supported the Council in the initiative to recycle the poppy wreaths for a second-year running; by cleaning and re-using a total of 53 wreaths over the course of the last two years, we have saved 8.63kg of plastic from going to landfill. This year, the initiative raised just under £620 for the Royal British Legion’s Poppy Appeal which was a fantastic sum.
Unfortunately, now that the wreaths have been used for 3 years in a row, they are not suitable for re-use next year. We are, however, keen to hear from any local community groups who might be interested in using the wreaths for an art project to be displayed next year at Remembrance. If you think this is something you might be interested in, please contact the Town Council on 01805 626135 or [email protected].
Great Torrington Town Council will continue to liaise with the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal to highlight the issue of single use plastic.
Thank you also to everyone who attended the short service at the War Memorial at 11am on Armistice Day, 11th November 2025.