Great Torrington Town Council

Information on Health and Safety at work and Environmental Health & Community Safety can be found on the Torridge District Council website:-

More information regarding Health and Safety at work can be found HERE

More information regarding Environmental Health and Community Safety can be found HERE

Your feedback about services, whether good or bad, gives us the opportunity to improve what we do and the way we do it. This of course, applies to the services that the district and the county councils offer to you , as residents of Great Torrington Town.

We want to know if you are unhappy with some aspect of council services but we also want to hear from you if we have done something well or if you have a suggestion for how we could do something better.

You can give us your feedback by choosing one of the contact options below:

• Visit us or telephone the Town Council Office on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday morning between 9am and 1pm
• Talk to one of your local Town Councillors
• Send an email: [email protected]
• Write to us via the details provided in the Contact Us Link

Torridge District Council’s Environmental Protection team works to protect the local environment and to control pollution. We also provide pest control advice and animal welfare services.

Our Mission is our commitment to improve the service we provide.

The Torridge Strategic Plan sets a vision of Torridge a great place to live, work and visit.  This statement cuts across everything we do within Environmental Protection, so how will we contribute to the vision?

By continuing to;

• Seek opportunities to work with businesses, neighbouring authorities, voluntary organisations and external agencies to protect the public and our local environment
• Reducing the regulatory burden on business by targeting enforcement interventions proportional to risk and reducing interventions where there is diligent compliance with statutory obligations
• Respond to complaints about commercial premises where we have enforcement responsibilities
• Deal with nuisance from noise, smoke, dust, odours etc
• Enforce against dog fouling
• Provide pest control advice
• Look after animal welfare in the District
• Issue licenses and approvals
• Control contaminated land
• Monitor and control local air pollution

We are committed to the evolution and improvement of the Service. We are constantly exploring new ways of working by looking at the innovations and lessons learned by Beacon Services in excellent performing authorities.

Please visit Torridge District Councils Environmental Protection pages HERE.

Emergency Planning is part of the Environmental Health and Public Protection team at Torridge District Council, and is responsible for preparing and maintaining emergency plans, and assisting the Emergency Services to deal with major emergencies.

When responding to a major emergency Torridge District Council’s role is to support the Emergency Services,  co-ordinate the Council’s response, ensure local services continue to be provided, and help or lead in returning the Community to a state of normality.

Torridge District Council works closely with the Emergency Services (Police, Fire and Rescue Service and Ambulance), Devon County Council and other organisations as appropriate.

Please visit Torridge District Councils Emergency Planning pages HERE.

The charity scheme was approved and established by the Charity Commissioners in 1968. It is a small charity which owns circa 32.4 acres (circa 13.1 hectares) of land in the parish of Great Torrington.  Further information about the Charity can be found on the Charity Commission Website by clicking here.

The majority of the land is rented by a local farmer. The remainder is used by the Council as allotments for local people.  The modest income for the Charity comes from the letting of the land and from investments. 

Great Torrington Town Council administers the COMMONS ALLOTMENTS CHARITY.  Each year the charity allocates its small amount of funds to locally based community groups. 

Miss K. Chapman, Town Clerk

Allotments in Great Torrington

The Council, following requests, has now provided 46 allotments at Weare Trees, on the road to Weare Gifford. Each allotment plot measures approximately 7m x 21m and at present the cost for renting a plot is £18 per year. The site is so popular, in spite of being on a hill, that there is a waiting list for plots.

Anyone wishing to add their name to the waiting list should contact the Town Clerks Secretary on 01805 626135 or in writing to the Great Torrington Town Council, Castle Hill, Great Torrington, EX38 8AA or by email to [email protected]

The following information is from the Torridge Council Website.

Please visit Torridge District Councils Land & Building pages HERE.

The Council’s Land and Property Portfolio is widely spread throughout the district to provide a service to the community, but is concentrated within the main Towns of Bideford, Great Torrington, Northam and Holsworthy. The Portfolio includes a variety of Land and property assets including Managed Commercial land and industrial estates, offices, depots, car parks, cemeteries, play areas, public conveniences, woods and amenity land

Further information about our estate and how we manage it can be found on the pages below. These pages contain the relevant contact details for individual officers that you may wish to speak to. Alternatively, click on “Full details for Property and Procurement Team” on the right of this page for a full list of officers along with their contact details.

We have recently completed full registration of our estate with HM land Registry, along with updating our system to an electronic ‘terrier’ of land and property assets. Please contact us if you wish to know whether the Council own a piece of land or property. Please note, that we do not hold details of land and property in private ownership. Any queries in this regard should be directed to HM Land Registry

Torridge District Council works as part of the Safer North Devon community safety partnership to improve the quality of life for residents in Torridge, by reducing crime and disorder and improving community safety and security.

What is Community Safety?

Everyone would like to live in a safe community where there is no fear of becoming a victim of crime and where they feel safe in their homes and going about their daily lives.  Community Safety concerns us all, and by working together we stand the best chance of making Torridge a safer place to live, work and play in.

Torridge District Council works as part of the Safer Devon community safety partnership to improve the quality of life for residents in Torridge, by reducing crime and disorder and improving community safety and security.

We work closely with the Police, Elected Members and other community and voluntary organisations about issues that concern residents.

Torridge District Council contributes to the delivery of a wide range of initiatives, including:

• Anti-social Behaviour Orders, which tackles the worst cases of anti-social behaviour in the District
• Prolific Offenders Scheme, working with offenders to change their behaviour
• Bideford Radio Link and other similar schemes – working with businesses in the town centres to reduce crime.

These are just some of the projects which together aim to have a real impact on residents and making people fell safer.  Our approach is to:

• Improve security to reduce the opportunity for crime
• Work with offenders, and potential offenders to change behaviour
• Raise public awareness of both the true incidence of crime, and our work to reduce the fear of crime.

“The Police and District Councils, with other partners, work together as “Safer Devon Partnership”, your local Community Safety Partnership, responding to local issues around Crime, reducing Anti-Social Behaviour and building confidence in our communities.

To find out about their latest work visit https://www.devon.gov.uk/communities/safer-devon-partnership”

To find out more, please visit Torridge District Councils Community Safety pages HERE.