By Maurice Bendle, chairman.It has been a year like no other year with COVID 19 restrictions and a very generous legacy left to the Parish.
COVID 19
All of our meetings last year were held remotely via Zoom. Once the initial hiccups were sorted these meetings ran fairly smoothly, we have had substantially more meetings this year largely due to the legacy and the ease of attending meetings in our own houses.
JOHN GRISS’S LEGACY
Sadly John passed away in February 2020 and very generously left his entire estate to Clayhidon Parish Council, which comprises of Rose Cottage and approximately 37 acres which includes 4 stocked lakes. This gift proved to be a challenge for us as none of the Councillors have any experience with fishing, thankfully Michael Leigh-Mallory stepped up to the mark, a neighbour of John’s and someone who for many years has worked with John offered to help organise a fishing syndicate and between them are beginning to bring it back to its former glory. A huge thanks to Mike and his team for all the hard work they have done. Money had to be raised to settle the estate before it could be handed over, although this was the Executor’s responsibility. We appreciate working with Richard Kallaway to achieve this, numerous items of machinery and a small piece of land were sold. Much discussion took place at our meetings as to the future use of our new assets and it was recommended that firstly a charity should be set up, so The John Griss Charity was created earlier this year and Nick King was elected as the first Chairman, so suddenly the need for PC meetings was greatly reduced. The estate should be handed over to the Charity in the next few weeks.
NEW COUNCILLOR
Sadly Councillor David Turner resigned from the Council and in his place we were very pleased to welcome John Kidner
SUPPORTING CHARITIES
Donations were given to the following;-
Parish Hall,
St. Andrews Churchyard,
Mid Devon Mobility,
Blackdown Healthy Living & Activities Centre,
Blackdown Support Group,
Citizen Advice Bureau.
PLANNING
We have had our usual flow of Planning Applications, no slowing up through the restrictions.
ROADS
Another wet winter hasn’t helped the road surfaces, some continue to deteriorate. Work has been done on roads in the Garlandhayes/Wiltown, Half Moon, Middleton Barton areas. Potholes have been filled, although concerns were raised when tarmac was used when the roads were wet and the potholes full of water! The road from the Parish Hall to Hidewood Farm has now been completed after many years of discussions. Apparently there is to be restructuring at Devon County Council Highways on the way that roads are maintained giving our neighbourhood officer more responsibility and his priority is to get the water off the roads before any major resurfacing work is done, which seems a sound way forward. Ongoing is the road from Palmers to Lilycombe with the water on the road around Deadbeer corners getting particular attention. A positive meeting has already taken place with the adjacent landowners
FOOTPATHS
I would like to thank Richard Brown for his continuing work in maintaining our footpaths, 18.5 miles of them, in a good state. Grants have been received from the Parish Paths Partnership and this money has been used for general maintenance which included a bridge replacement on the Bridge House /Gladhayes footpath.
OTHER ORGANISATIONS
CHARITIES
CLAYHIDON CHARITY – This charity receives its main income from the charity below.
MARY PARSONS GIFT TRUST – This a joint charity with Churchstanton Parish Council. The charity is in the process of getting the field it owns registered with the Land Registry. Once this is completed it is hoped that the field can be sold and the trust wound-up with half the proceeds being paid to the existing Clayhidon Charity.
BLACKDOWN HILLS PARISH NETWORK, AONB and CONNECTING THE CULM – thanks to Alison Weekes for representing the parish council.
LENGTHSMAN
With Devon County Highways having a shrinking budget more is left for us to do inhouse. We are very grateful for the work that Chris Houghton does on our roads, drainage and hedge cutting together with the work he does in keeping our paths accessible, thanks Chris.
As I said earlier it has been a year like no other year for us all and I would like to thank all the many volunteers who have stepped up to the mark, helping the vulnerable and shielded members of our community. I would also like to thank my fellow councillors for their commitment to the Parish and it is always encouraging to have parishioners attending our meetings, thank you for making the effort and your input.
And lastly I would like to thank our very able clerk, Donna, for all the work, time and energy she puts in and for keeping us all in line and for making the Chairman’s task so much easier.
Maurice Bendle
Chairman