East Devon Local Plan
EDDC is compiling a new Local Plan that will set out how the District will shape up for the next 10 years. This is now available for public comment via the EDDC website.
Cllr Rob Longhurst has been leading the Parish Council through the process of a submission to the Local Development Framework (LDF) which some of you may have taken part in or just heard about. The New Local Plan is the current Government’s view of the way that planning for our area should be handled. It is important that we have our say as this will guide decisions on planning applications for a long time.
The next stage is to produce a Neighbourhood Plan which will build on the Village Design Statement, the Parish Plan and the LDF submission and should carry even greater weight than the LDF submission. Guidance on how to produce a Neighbourhood Plan is only just coming out, but the Parish Council will make sure that a great effort is put into getting this right. There will be much more about this in the New Year.
Public Conveniences
You may have noticed some improvements to the public conveniences on the Underhill Car Park. The Parish Council lease these from EDDC and under the lease they have to carry out regular maintenance and redecoration. At the moment, complete repainting, inside and out, is being carried out by Graham Brister and plumbing improvements, including installing waterless urinals are being carried out by Andy Hurst. Both jobs were put out to tender and the Parish Council is very pleased to have been able to put the work to contractors from the village. Waterless urinals are proving very popular in many places and it is hoped that they will be successful in Lympstone. It is expected that this will result in the saving of hundreds of pounds’ worth of running costs.
Village Exercise
At the meeting of the Parish Council on 21st November, 2011, Major Alex Maclay thanked the whole Village for the way in which the village exercise for Young Officers had been embraced by the whole community. he regarded this years exercise as a success and very helpful for those who took part. Some thought is now being given as to whether an exercise could take place during school term time next year. If you have any comments about this please let Cllr Acca or Tony Priest, Head of Lympstone Primary School, know your views.
Village School
Tony Priest, Head of Lympstone Primary School, also came to the Parish Council meeting to explain how the school was being run and its relationship with DCC. There are currently 186 pupils on the school roll whereas the admissions number was calculated to be 177. However, the Appeals Panel often gave places beyond the ‘official’ number and so this reduced local control over the number of children to be accommodated. The Governors are still giving great thought as to how a new portable classroom can be fitted into the school site, including the use of the site of the Church rooms, which is to be funded by the PCC.
