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Great Torrington Town Council

Fiware4Water – smart meters

Fiware4Water is a project which aims to implement innovative approaches that empower customers towards water efficiency, through the use of smart meters.  In the UK, the University of Exeter is partnering with South West Water (SWW) and the UN World Water Quality Alliance (UNWWQA).

Great Torrington has been chosen to pilot new smart meter technology as part of this project. Customers in this region will be given access to a smart phone application displaying their water consumption. They will be able to see how much they are paying for water, compare their consumption against others, set consumption targets and receive leak alarm notifications. SWW will use the data from these smart meters to locate and respond faster to household leaks in the area and derive relationships between consumption and the weather (e.g. rainfall) via an internally accessed web application. Research has shown that metered customers use significantly less water than customers who are not metered. The project team expects that increased visibility of water use behaviour will drive an even larger reduction in a customer’s water consumption. The benefits of which will be realised by SWW with a lower overall demand on resources and treatment requirements, and by the customer with a lower annual water bill.

The Project Team will be announcing details soon of a launch event at which SWW customers in Great Torrington will be invited to take part.  For more information, please follow this link to the Fiware4Water website: https://www.fiware4water.eu/

Organisation List 2025/26

Organisation Representative for 2025/2026
Area Advisory Group Cllrs Smith & Cloke
Building Preservation Trust (Town Hall) Cllrs Mills & Parish
Cavaliers Cllr Cloke
Chamber of Trade  
Churches Cllrs L Bright & Cloke
Community Development Trust  
Conservators Cllr Maisey
Dementia Friendly / Memory Cafe Cllrs Cloke & Mills
Early Years Cllr L Bright
Fair Trade Cllr B Callaghan-Martin
Futures Group  
Food Bank Cllrs B Callaghan-Martin & Maisey
Heritage Groups Cllr Mills – Museum, Dig the Castle, Cllr Smith – TVR, Rolle Canal
Mayfair Committee Cllr Allin
Men’s Shed Cllr Parish
Plough Cllr Maisey
Police Liaison Cllr Mills
Police & Crime Commissioner Advocate Cllr Smith
Regeneration Board Cllr Isaac
Sporting Groups Cllrs Parish
Torrington 100 Cllr Insull
Torrington in Bloom Cllr Cloke
Torrington Silver Band Cllr B Callaghan-Martin
Youth Groups Cllr Mills
Torridge District Councillors Cllrs C Bright, L Bright & Smith
   
Lead Members Representative for 2025/2026
Economic Development Cllr Parish
Education Cllr Cloke
Highways Cllr C Bright
Housing Cllr Mills
Licensing Cllr C Bright
NHS/Health and Wellbeing Cllrs Brown & Insull
Planning Cllrs Cloke & Smith
Uniformed Emergency Services Cllr Mills
Social Media Cllr Allin
   
   
   
   
   
   

Contacting your Local Policing Team

If you have a non-urgent matter that you wish to bring to the attention of your Local Policing Team, the easiest way of contacting them is as follows :

Go to this Devon and Cornwall Police web-page here – https://www.devon-cornwall.police.uk/your-area/

On that page go to the Find your Local Policing Team box.

Fill in either the relevant location or post-code, or use the drop down menu to select the appropriate Neighbourhood.

Click the Search button.

Details of the Local Policing Team will then be displayed, along with a box allowing anyone to send a message to that team.  

Role of the Mayor

The Role of Mayor can be divided into two distinct areas: Chairman of the Council, and representative of the Town.

CHAIRMAN OF THE COUNCIL

  1. The Mayor is appointed as the first item of business at the Annual Meeting, and remains in office until his/her successor is elected or he/she resigns or is otherwise barred from holding office.
  2. The Town Mayor must be a Member of the Council.
  3. The Town Mayor has precedence within his/her Town before all others except the Sovereign or his/her representatives and the Chairman of the District Council.
  4. If present at a Council Meeting the Mayor must preside and has control of its procedure for enforcing the law and good order.
  5. The Mayor must prevent decisions being taken on matters which are not on the agenda of the Council Meeting.
  6. When presiding at a Meeting the Mayor has the casting vote unless presiding over the election of a new Mayor as his/her last act before ceasing to be a Member of the Council. In such a case he/she only has a casting vote.
  7. Where there is a tie in the election of a Mayor, the presiding Mayor (Chairman) MUST BY LAW give the CASTING VOTE.
  8. The Mayor may on three days notice convene a Council Meeting at any time.
  9. The Mayor must call an extraordinary meeting within seven days if he/she receives a requisition for that purpose signed by two Members of the Council.
  10. The Mayor signs the minutes presented to and approved by the Council Meeting.
  11. In order to discharge the function of Chairman presiding at Council Meetings the Mayor should understand thoroughly the Standing Orders of the Council.
  12. The ruling of the Mayor (Chairman) on a point of order or on the admissibility of a personal explanation SHALL NOT BE DISCUSSED by the Council Meeting.
  13. The Mayor accepts the resignations by Members. 
  14. The Mayor is paid an allowance to meet the expenses of his/her office. Records must be kept to confirm expenditure on Council business.

REPRESENTATIVE OF THE PARISH

The Mayor:

  1. Is the proper person to represent the Parish on ceremonial occasions.
  2. Designate is responsible for informing the Town Clerk whom he/she wishes to invite to the Annual Meeting. 
  3. Designate is responsible for organising and paying for the celebration function following his/her inauguration at the Annual Meeting.
  4. Recommends whom he/she wishes to be the Council Chaplain for his/her term of office. 
  5. Informs the Town Clerk of his/her invitations to the Civic Service and recommends to Council when that service shall be.
  6. Becomes Chairman of the Mayfair Committee at the first meeting of the Mayfair Committee following inauguration as Mayor. 
  7. Visits the local Hospital, Castle House Nursing Home and Woodland Vale on Christmas Day. 
  8. In consultation with the Town Clerk selects the speakers for the May Fair Proclamation. 
  9. Attends with the Council the May Fair proclamation and parade on the first Thursday in May.
  10. Provides and pays for gifts to the May Queen and attendants, Heralds and Crowner at the Mayfair celebrations in the Square.
  11. Attends with the Council the Remembrance Day Service and Parade in November.
  12. Establishes those residents within the Parish celebrating their 100th birthday, Golden and Diamond weddings, visits and offers a card and small gift.
  13. Accepts invitations on behalf of the Parish and attends events as the Representative of the Parish. In such capacity must maintain the dignity of the Parish at all times. Invitations in the region of 75 might be expected. The majority of invitations are within the Parish.
  14. Furthers the policies of the Council with outside bodies.
  15. By custom and practice nominate two Charities for whom he/she will raise money during the year. At the following Annual Meeting, the money raised is then presented to the Charities.
  16. Is responsible for obtaining the licence from the District Council for the Mayor’s Appeal.
  17. Is the only Member of Council (along with the Town Clerk) authorised to speak to the Media on behalf of the Council.
  18. Is responsible for the safekeeping of the Chains of Office which must be protected at all Times.

NOTE: The Mayor is expected to be accompanied by a Mayoress or Consort as appropriate.  This is usually the wife or husband of the Mayor but need not be.

There are duties for the Mayoress/Consort:

a)Choose the theme for the May Fair children’s outfits.

 b)Select the dressmaker to make the outfits.

 c)Meet with the dressmaker and children to measure up for costumes.

 d)Dressmaker also makes the cushion for the May Queen’s crown.

 e)Attends with the Mayor the dress rehearsal on the Wednesday of May Fair week.

  

The Beadle is available (by prior arrangement) to drive the Mayor and Mayoress/Consort to official functions and return them.

This “job description” is not meant to be exhaustive but to give as much of a flavour of the role of Mayor as is reasonable so that the duties and responsibilities do not come as a surprise.