My Council

The Town Council’s Technicians have been busy over the past few months, undertaking a variety of tasks.  You may have noticed that the bollards (all 61 of them) have been re-painted and are looking great for the summer season.  Other work undertaken includes hand weeding, grass cutting, moss clearing, maintenance of street furniture, hedge-cutting, washing the railings at Rack Park and even stone walling along the boundary of the allotments as per photo.

We have also spent some time, along with other agents and group members clearing and keeping Caddywell Lane tidy, which has also been complimented with a new litter bin at the Bluecoat School end.

We have looked at the conditions of our bus shelters and are setting out a plan for maintenance, re-painting and eventual replacement over the next year and beyond.

As we go forward into the summer, the Council will continue the work started last year on specific areas of grassland, leaving the grass to grow as part of a longer-term meadow approach.  We sowed yellow rattle seed last autumn to help break down the grass ready for wild flower sowing at the end of this season. We will position appropriate signage in these areas.

We will also be planting the planters at the town entry signs and maintaining these during the summer months.

Members of the environment committee recently agreed to arrange for bulbs to be planted at entrances to the town by Donnacroft and Woodland Vale, this autumn, ready for next Spring.

People who contact NHS 111 by phone or online, at any time of day or night, will get quicker clinical advice and care before they visit an Emergency Department.

An improved system was introduced in December 2020 that will give quicker and safer access to NHS services for people in Devon when they need urgent care. The aim is to ensure that people get the right care and attention they need at the right place and reduce waiting times.

People are being urged to contact 111 first to get expert advice about which service to use and when. The 111 service has been in place since 2013, but since the end of last year those contacting 111 who need emergency medical care from a hospital Emergency Department (also known as A&E) have been given direct access to the department. If the issue would be better dealt with in a Minor Injury Unit, GP surgery or other urgent care site, patients can be booked in directly. The improvements are there to ensure that people get to the right place for treatment quickly and reduce waiting times.

The system is aimed at reducing unnecessary visits to some of the region’s busiest healthcare facilities – taking pressure off local services and ensuring social distancing measures are applied.

Other arrangements have not changed and people with serious or life-threatening illnesses or injuries should continue to dial 999, as before.

To contact 111 – just call 111, or click: https://111.nhs.uk/ 

Members, officers and volunteers of the Town Council were deeply saddened to hear the news of the untimely death of Christine Porter.  Christine was instrumental in setting up the GTTC Dementia Friendly Community Working Group, striving to improve all aspects of day-to-day living within the community for those living with dementia as well as their Carers.  Christine was passionate about this initiative and worked extremely hard “on the ground” and alongside other members of the group.  Christine was an inspiration to so many and will be greatly missed by everyone who worked with and had the privilege to know her.  Our thoughts are vey much with Christine’s family and friends at this sad time.

Karen Chapman (Town Clerk)

Topics include importing and exporting goods, moving goods between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, & help to find answers regarding the transition period.

Click: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/help-and-support-if-your-business-trades-with-the-eu  

Last year the Town Council received a letter from a young man, Elliott Ashelford aged 5 requesting the provision of litter bins along lower Caddywell Lane. The District Council provided a bin and a delayed opening ceremony, (Covid19 restrictions), took place in early December. Elliott was joined by the Mayor and the Beadle, along with his mum, dad and younger brother, Reece. Elliott proudly cut the ribbon to officially launch a newly positioned litter bin at the end of Lower Caddywell Lane. It was great to receive this representation from someone so young in our community and we commend Elliott for his enthusiasm to help make a difference in his community!

At the start of another new year we thought it might be helpful to give a reminder regarding which tier of Council is responsible for main services within the community of Great Torrington.  We hope you find the below information helpful.

Devon County Council is responsible for the following services;

Education and schools, Highways including potholes, tourism signs, gritting, social services, child protection, libraries, recycling centres, waste management, and trading standards. Your local County Councillor is Andrew Saywell.

Torridge District Council is responsible for the following services;

Rubbish collection and recycling, council tax administration and collection, housing, planning applications, car parks, electoral services, sport and leisure, housing benefit and council tax support, business rates administration and collection, environmental protection, economic development, street cleaning, fly tipping and licensing. Local District Councillors are Cllrs Chris Bright, Margaret Brown, and Cheryl Cottle-Hunkin.  All of these District Councillors are also Town Councillors.

Great Torrington Town Council (GTTC)

GTTC is responsible for grass and hedge cutting, town maintenance, including benches, bus shelters, and the town clock. Acting as consultees for Planning matters, maintenance of GTTC owned parks (Trafalgar Drive, Greenbank and Jubilee Close), and facilitating and participating in working groups for the benefit of the community, (for example, “The Marketing Working Group” and the “Dementia Friendly Community working groups), receiving applications and awarding grants to local organisations, lobbying where appropriate, managing allotments, providing Christmas lights and bunting, events organising, footpaths and verge maintenance under contract, providing Snow and Road Wardens, overseeing Jubilee Wood/Meadow and statutory issues in relation to administration and finance of a Town Council.

GTTC endeavours to work with the above authorities, voluntary groups and individuals where possible when the outcome is for the benefit to the community of Great Torrington. Examples of these collaborations over the past 12 months include working with Devon County Council on an ongoing  project to improve signage. Working with Torridge District Council on “opening up the town centre post lockdown. Working with local volunteers from the community at Jubilee Wood, and community through the GTTC Covid19 support group. The list goes on, but Members are keen to be involved in local matters which do actually, “make a difference” to the town in one way or another.

In more normal times, the Mayor also represents the Town and attends a large number of events throughout the year and endeavours to keep good relations with our local neighbours as well as serve those within the community as and when possible.

A list of Town Councillors is held on the Town Council’s website along with contact details.  There is also a list in the Notice Board at GTTC offices, Castle Hill.

Despite the restrictions we lived with last year, volunteers continued to be busy at Jubilee Wood. As we headed towards autumn, we saw the installation of a new land drain at the Stonemans Lane gateway so to accommodate more of the water coming down the hill when there is heavy rain. This should now help prevent the path and steps being washed away and reduce the amount of mud at that point. In addition, gravel was put down to help stabilise the path. Monitoring of this situation will be continued.

There were struggles cutting the grass due to inclement weather conditions which may mean that the longer grass will hinder the growth of flowering plants. The team has tried to rake out the thatch and sow seed, but we are not sure how effective it will be. We are hoping to have success at the School Lane end as we managed to strim the long grass there.

Volunteers have sowed the wildflower seed into pans and will plant out the resulting individual seedlings during this year.

The Town Council Technicians cut the grass triangle in the middle of the site and as a result the team was able to plant out approx. 80 “Bluecoats” trees. We are hoping to invite the Bluecoat School down next year to “adopt” the area – and maybe plant a few additional trees. It was lovely to have more people offer to help plant out these trees, which widens community involvement.

Ground has also been levelled for a new pathway to the first bench we hope to install in the New Year.

Alan Williams managed to secure plants from the Woodland Trust so we will see more trees and shrubs being planted in 2021.  In addition, we are looking to improve footpaths, including addition of steps to improve accessibility and have an ongoing programme of sowing and planting wild flowers to improve biodiversity and make the meadow more attractive.

During last year we estimate approximately 200 hours of volunteering took place at Jubilee Wood and the Town Council would like to say big thank you to Alan and his team of volunteers for all they have done and continue to at Jubilee Wood.

Please note that all of this work has been done in accordance with Covid19 precautions.