Apr 1

District Councillor’s Report

Amongst other items, it was reported that projections for future budget increases were already being made on +4.9% basis.

County Councillor’s Report

The highlight of Councillor BCJ Hughes’s report was that two additional signs were to be put up by Devon County Council highlighting the 30mph speed restriction recently imposed on a short section of Hulham Rd at £5,000 each to protect horses.

Cllr J Moffatt reported that anxious mothers are trying to get some basic traffic calming measures to protect young school children walking to school including forming crocodiles or convoys of children.

Police Report

Seven crimes had been reported in the last two months. They ranged from the theft of a hairdryer through the theft of a laptop from the Primary School to the misuse of someone’s bank card details.

Anti Social Behaviour

There was a brief debate on which of those activities the Council had picked as being most relevant from the Home Office list at a previous meeting. Most councillors felt that this should NOT include skateboarding although this was a safety hazard at certain road junctions in Lympstone.

Estuary Management

A member of the Harbour and Fisheries committee is to be asked to attend the next Parish Council meeting and explain their proposal for the funding of the estuary management.

Cycle/Walkway

Amongst other planning applications were two thick reports - the DCC Deemed Planning consent for the construction of a cycle/walkway as part of the Exe Estuary National Cycle network No 2 Section – Exmouth to Lympstone and Lympstone to Exton which most of the Council had studied over the weekend. Also a short paper setting out how a thousand cyclists a day could be expected through Lympstone if other similar Cycle/Walkways are a foretaste from Cllr Carter.

Cllr Hughes said that a safety assessment of the route through the village had been done based on current traffic levels.

The application was rejected unanimously by Lympstone Parish Council after a long and lively debate involving all in the room.

Cllr C M Carter

Cycle/Walkway Debate

Several comments, meetings with and letters from you prompted me to write a paper for the Parish Council on some of the probable effects of the Cycle Track being implemented with a about a thousand cyclists a day coming through the village.After I wrote this report, I received more comments and other letters expressing a very different view, from some of those whose gardens abutted the possible track of the path and who are concerned about their loss of privacy and security amongst other things. As a councillor, a probable cycle track user who does occasionally walk into Exmouth, and who does not live adjacent to any possible track I can appreciate some of it’s commercial, and health advantages and of the pleasure it will afford, but also its disadvantages. The council was asked for it’s views in the form of a planning application which came before Lympstone’s PC’s Planning Committee on Monday. In essence, we were asked to rubber stamp a planning application submitted by Devon County Council as a ‘deemed consent’. In other words, this was an application which we could not reject

Very cleverly the application was split into two, Exmouth to near the Lympstone boundary and from the other side of Lympstone to Exton. The birds have been considered but not the people of Lympstone.

Cllr C M Carter

NB Annual Parish Meeting

7.30pm on the 22^nd of May in the Village Hall – all welcome.

Editor: Chris Carter, Hillcrest, Greenhill Ave, Tel 274104. Copy editor – D Atkins