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Great Torrington Town Council

Good Citizen Award 2026

Retiring Mayor Cllr Phil Cloke presented this year’s “Good Citizen Award” to Martyn Butler in recognition of his outstanding service to the town.

His dedicated work with the Torrington Rotary Club has raised significant funds for local groups, and his recent efforts led to the installation of a memorial plaque in St. Michael’s and All Angels churchyard honouring those who died in the 1646 church explosion during the Battle of Torrington.

Martyn is a consistent supporter of community events, and his dedication is valued across the town.

Mayor’s Cadet 2026

The baton was formally presented to the new Mayor’s Cadet at the Mayoral Introduction Ceremony. Cadet Reuben Studley was introduced by Torrington Detachment Commander, Second Lieutenant Lauren O’Halloran, who outlined the selection process for appointing the Mayors Cadet.

The retiring cadet, Corporal Imogen Pascoe, was presented with a certificate of thanks by Cllr Phil Cloke in recognition of the duties she carried out throughout the year.

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Mayoral Introduction Ceremony 2026

At the Mayoral Introduction Ceremony on 20th May 2026, Cllr Dave Parish was sworn in as Mayor for the coming year and Cllr Bruce Ashley-Martin as Deputy Mayor, we wish them every success for the coming year.

Cllr Parish was delighted to present the past mayor’s badge to Cllr Phil Cloke and to thank him for all that he has done during the last two years.

May Queen & Entourage 2026 














The selection of this years May Queen and Entourage has recently taken place,
a couple of weeks before the announcement is made, children put themselves 
forward for the various roles.  Year 6 girls who wished to be considered for
May Queen or Crowner, and Year 6 boys who wished to be considered for May
Prince or Herald, each wrote a personal statement for consideration by their
peers.  A voting process, which is done anonymously, was carried out just before
half term and the Mayor and his Consort attended Great Torrington Bluecoat C of
E Primary School to verify the winners and to draw the names of the Attendants.

This years May Queen & Entourage are:

May Queen: Livvy Hewitt

Crowner: Poppy Coates

Heralds: Albie McNicholas and Elliott Pett

May Prince (Standard Bearer): Andrew Clifton

Attendants:  Elsie Gallagher & Renesmai Mawdsley,  Freya Galley & Kiera Jones,
Millie-May Parish & Lexi Cridge, Lily Guppy & Sophie Barrow.

Congratulations to them all!!
 

Commons Allotment Charity Grants and Precept Grants

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.

 

100th Birthday Celebration – Doreen Turner

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.

Getting to know your Town Councillors – Cllr. Keeley Allin

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!