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Great Torrington Town Council

Neighbourhood Plan

Approved Neighbourhood Plan

Approved-PLAN-July-2021-compliantDownload

A Quick Guide to the Neighbourhood Plan

Neighbourhood planning is about making sure a community gets the development it needs for the future – through the building of homes, job opportunities, community and leisure facilities such as schools, health services and shops.

Who was responsible for Drawing It Up?

A group called the Neighbourhood Forum, made up of residents and town councillors from Great Torrington worked on the Plan. They were required by law to consult widely with residents and special interest groups. Several consultations took place during the preparation time.

What Does The Plan hope To Achieve?

To improve the economic and social well-being of Great Torrington, with a strong focus on its important and unique market town role, community spirit and tourism, whilst fully respecting and sensitively managing its historic character and ecologically important setting.

The Plan focuses its objectives on five groups of key issues:

ENVIRONMENT – To ensure the distinctive rural landscape, settlement patterns, historical assets, natural environment and biodiversity of the town are protected and enhanced. To provide improved green open spaces and mitigate the impact of development on climate change through the design of new buildings.

HOUSING – To support high quality affordable housing with a mix of size, type and tenure to meet local and future needs, including family homes, affordable housing and assisted living.

INFRASTRUCTURE – To address the traffic passing through the town, including the additional flow of traffic that will be generated by new housing, manage the parking problems in the town centre and improve the safety needs of other road users including cyclists and pedestrians.

COMMUNITY FACILITIES – To improve recreational facilities for teenagers and younger children whilst ensuring that community assets such as meeting places and health care facilities are of a high quality and easily accessible to the local community.

EMPLOYMENT – To positively encourage employment opportunities that exist in the area, including making links with major employers whilst providing opportunities for smaller businesses to develop and thrive in the area, and to offer good employment and training opportunities for local people.

What area does the Great Torrington Neighbourhood Plan cover?

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The boundary includes the entire area in the administrative jurisdiction of Great Torrington Parish Area, which serves the Community of Great Torrington. The boundary follows the River Torridge from north to south, and encompasses the outskirts of the Town such as Rosemoor, Torrington Wood, Week Bottom, Daracott Moor, Woodhouse Wood and Van’s Wood.

What is the relationship between the Neighbourhood Plan and the Local Plan?

A neighbourhood plan should support the strategic development needs set out in the Local Plan and plan positively to support local development.

A neighbourhood plan must address the development and use of land. This is because the Neighbourhood Plan, once adopted becomes part of the statutory development plan (i.e. brought into legal force) brought in by the planning authority. Applications for planning permission must be determined in accordance with the development plan, unless material considerations indicate otherwise.

Torridge & North Devon Local Plan: https://www.torridge.gov.uk/localplan

Archive documents:-

Referendum PlanDownload
Notification of Decision GTNPDownload
Addendum non land use mattersDownload
Submission PlanDownload
Proposals MapDownload
Basic Conditions StatementDownload
Sustainability AppraisalDownload
SCI RevisedDownload
Non Land Use MattersDownload
Evidence BaseDownload
Great Torrington Overall 2kmDownload
Great Torrington Overall 5kmDownload

Museum

Torrington Museum

Great Torrington Museum is a popular tourist attraction, popular with locals and a key asset as the town celebrates its unique and abundant heritage. The museum hosts over 4700 artefacts, the largest number held by any North Devon museum.  The Museum has a  lot of exciting plans for the future but does need more help to bring these to fruition.

If you love Great Torrington, are proud of its heritage  and have a passion to be involved Peter and Val would love to hear from you. They can be contacted at [email protected] or call them on 01805 622306.

 

Skate Park

With the help of donations and grant awards, the Council established a small skate park in Calf St next to the children’s play area. The facilities are well used by skaters and BMX bikers.

Also situated within the play area is a graffiti wall where artists may add their contribution.

       

   

Sports Pitches

Torridgeside Football Club have the lease of three pitches at Donnacroft with Great Torrington Rugby Club managing a Rugby Pitch.

These pitches are well used by Torridgeside Youth  and adult teams and the various Rugby teams.

Anyone wanting further information about either of these clubs, please make contact via the below information.

Torrington Rugby Club

Torridgeside Football Club

Committee Functions

COMMITTEE TERMS OF REFERENCE

Planning 

  1. Responds to all planning consultations from The District Council and County Council.
  2. Responds to planning policy documents.
  3. Responsible for overseeing Parish Plan.

Policy and Finance

  1. Is responsible for managing the Council’s finances.
  2. Recommending the annual budget and the precept to Torridge District Council.
  3. All monies raised by precept for the Council’s day to day expenses are collected by the District Council from the Council tax payers of the parish of Great Torrington  i.e. what you spend comes from within the parish – there is no government grant towards it.
  4. Matters of a policy issue rather than a technical day to day management issue are considered by committee.  So if the Council considers whether to maintain monuments and memorials it will be considered first by Policy.  If agreed the day to day management will transfer to the Environment Committee.
  5. Allocation of annual grants.

Environment Committee

This committee deals with the majority of the Council’s day to day business.

Such matters as

  1. Donnacroft sports facilities
  2. Parish Paths maintenance
  3. Liaison with Highway Authority
  4. Christmas lights/trees
  5. Daily liaison with District re: the condition of parish, e.g. litter, refuse
  6. Snow Warden.

The committee also manages the day to day affairs of the Council Charity, The Common Allotments Charity.  Each Member of Council is a trustee of the Charity.   The Charity owns land at Weare Trees which it lets for agricultural purposes, and a good number of allotments.  The money raised is  then distributed in the form of annual grants to local organisations.

COMMITTEE TERMS & CONDITIONS

Mace Bearer – Tim Cloke

Tim spent the entirety of his happy childhood in Great Torrington and has always been a proud Torringtonian. At primary school, he was never happier than on Mayfair day when dancing around the May pole. From the age of 8 until he turned 18 he was a member of the Silver Band and proudly recalls taking part in civic events and marching through the town, and has been fortunate to be able to continue playing with the band on occasions even after moving away from Torrington to go to university and start his teaching career. 

In 2004 he left Torrington to study history and to qualify as a history teacher. Although his first teaching job took him to historic Kent, he continued to visit his friends and family in Great Torrington and never stopped considering Great Torrington as ‘home’. Indeed, from the moment he accepted the job in Kent he held returning to Great Torrington as a long-term ambition. Happily, in 2017 he was able to realise this ambition and was delighted to accept the role of history teacher at Great Torrington School and move back to Great Torrington. Teaching has always given him satisfaction, but the chance to return home and inspire Great Torrington’s young people to take an interest in their heritage – and to teach in his former school – has proved to be the greatest satisfaction of all. 

His knowledge of Great Torrington’s history is a passion that extends well beyond his profession, he well appreciates the historic significance of the town maces and the role of the town council in Great Torrington’s vibrant civic calendar. He is therefore delighted to have the opportunity to further contribute to the life of Great Torrington; the home town which has done so much for him and feels truly honoured to repay his debt to the town in this way.

Role of the Deputy Mayor

The Role of Deputy Mayor is one of supporting the current Mayor.

This may seem to be and in some respects is a less arduous task. However the Deputy Mayor will be expected to undertake some of the roles of the Mayor who may not be able to attend all functions and events.

The Deputy Mayor must also be ready to assume the Chairmanship of Council Meetings in the absence of the Mayor. For this reason the requirements under the heading Chairman of the Council in the Mayor’s job description apply to the Deputy Mayor. In particular item 11 relating to Standing Orders.

The Deputy Mayor is not paid an allowance but may claim expenses for official duties.

Should the Mayor for whatever reason be no longer able to undertake his/her duties it will be the duty of the Deputy Mayor to take over the role until either, the Mayor is able to assume his/her duties, the Deputy Mayor is confirmed as Mayor OR a new Mayor is appointed.

Mace Bearer – Carole Weeks

Our first female Mace Bearer (as far as we know!), Carole has lived in Great Torrington all her life. She comes from a family who have resided in the town for several generations. She loves its traditions and is keen to play her part in keeping them alive.

A huge fan of Mayfair, she joined in with the maypole dancing and the guard of honour for the May Queen and her entourage as a child.

She has had several jobs over the years including working for School Pictures at Greenbank, the meat factory, social services, and Dartington Crystal where she met her husband, Paul. Indeed, her connection to the glass factory goes back to when her Swedish step-father helped to set up the glass factory in the 1960s.

Carole now runs her own cleaning business, a venture she embarked on nearly 20 years ago.

Carole applied to be a Mace Bearer as it is important to her that the traditional roles of the town are carried out by local people. She was delighted to take up the post in 2022 and now attends the Town Council’s numerous civic occasions.

Council Procedures

The Town Council follow a set of procedures to ensure that they operate an efficient , transparent and accountable service to its residents.

Confidence in local democracy is achieved when elected councillors are seen to live up to the high standards that the public expect and paid officers work to a robust set of procedures . Every Council is required to adopt a Code of Conduct which sets out the rules governing the behaviour of its elected , co-opted and independent members. In addition , members are required to record on the public register, their financial and other interests.

The Great Torrington Town Council and its members follow a set of procedures to ensure that the service they offer to you , is efficient , transparent and accountable. A copy of all Town Council procedures are available by clicking onto the related download below.

Visit Great Torrington

This friendly, welcoming town, set in the heart of rolling, unspoilt green countryside, has become recognised as an important heritage centre for the history of the 17th century.  Great Torrington had a significant role in the English Civil War, specifically, the Battle of Great Torrington in 1646 which marked the end of the Royalist resistance in the West Country. This led to the eventual defeat and execution of King Charles 1.

Great Torrington today is a vibrant community and people in the town, proud of their heritage, can often be seen dressed in 17th century costume for re-enactments, festivals and celebrations. Great Torrington, the town on the River Torridge, is an ancient settlement extraordinarily sited on a cliff top with steep drops down to the River Torridge below. This impressive situation has always been valued for its strategic importance; now it is valued for its spectacular views. The Torridge Valley lies in the very heart of Tarka Country. This wonderful landscape has remained practically unchanged since Henry Williamson found inspiration here to write his classic novel ‘Tarka the Otter’ in the 1920’s.

On the first Thursday in May the annual May Fair celebration takes place, first held in 1554, complete with the crowning of the May Queen plus Maypole and Floral dancing in the Town Square (see video below). The Fair culminates with the Carnival procession on the following Saturday night. Later in the year there is a week of entertainment by the town’s own Silver Band. Every few years during August Bank Holiday Weekend there is a charity bonfire event that is second to none and then as Christmas approaches, a candlelit “Big Sing”.

Please click HERE to view a Map of Great Torrington.

Please click here to visit the One Great Torrington website for more information about things to do and places to stay in Great Torrington