Author: Parish Clerk

Weather Ready and Parish Emergency Plan

Please see the link below for advice from the Met Office to help households prepare for the winter weather. The advice covers helping people take care of health and wellbeing, preparing their homes and gardens for weather changes and how to get out and about safely:

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/warnings-and-advice/weatherready

Bridford Parish Council are also in the process of putting together a Parish Emergency Plan which will help to ensure that everyone knows what to do, who to contact and how best to help in the event of any type of emergency, including weather related.

Acorn Community Support funding

Bridford Parish Council recently put in an application to Devon County Council locality fund to support Acorn Community Support to widen their offer to parishioners in Bridford and the wider Teign Valley who are carers and were delighted to receive £1100 for Acorn to use to set up regular carer peer support groups. Many thanks to County Councillors Jerry Brook and Frank Letch who supported our application.

The October Parish Council meeting was held on Monday 7^th October 2024 and these were the key points of discussion:

Snow team for Bridford – plea for additional volunteers

We have a very good snow team in place but need a few more volunteers to help run the gritter when needed as some members have moved away from the area, and it is always useful to have additional members to call upon should help be needed. As Bridford is not on the main gritting route, we rely on the volunteers to keep the roads to Bridford open in the cold weather. Please contact Tamsin Mowat, Clerk to Bridford Parish Council on [email protected] if you are able to help.

Reporting Highways issues

As the weather is changing, just a reminder to please report any issues you notice on the roads, such as potholes, drainage, overgrown vegetation, etc. directly to Devon County Council Highways department on: https://www.devon.gov.uk/roads-and-transport/report-a-problem If you are reporting an emergency that requires immediate attention, please call 0345 155 1004. An emergency on the highway is defined as something that is very likely to present an imminent threat to life or serious injury or serious damage to property.

You can also find out the latest information about planned road works and road closures here: https://one.network/

Clothing bank and recycling/disposing of large items

Many thanks to all those who have contributed items to the clothing bank at Bridford. Just a reminder to please double bag items before donating them in order to keep them dry and in good condition in the wet weather.

Larger items that are not suitable to be donated can be taken to Devon County Council recycling centres at Newton Abbot https://www.devon.gov.uk/wasteandrecycling/centre/brunel-road-recycling-centre and Exeter https://www.devon.gov.uk/wasteandrecycling/centre/exton-road-recycling-centre or collection of large items, such as beds, mattresses and white goods, can be arranged from your home for a fee; see Bulky waste collections by Teignbridge District Council here: https://www.teignbridge.gov.uk/recycling-and-waste/special-collections/bulky-waste-collections

Fountain Forestry have instructed Euroforest Ltd. to undertake log clearance work at the Laployd and Smithacott Plantation near Tottiford Reservoir from 4th October 2024. The work is due to be completed in a few weeks, weather dependent. Lorries will need to travel up from the Teign Valley Road (B3193), up Pound Lane and through the village to access the site and return that way too. There will be signs in the village to direct the lorries. This should complete the work that was started last year and further work in this area is not due to take place for another 5 or 6 years.

If you are interested in reading the agendas and minutes of the latest TVCH Management Committee meetings, you can now find them here on the TVCH website: https://teignvalley.org/tvch-management-committee/

There was no meeting in August. The September meeting was held on Monday 2nd September. News from the meeting:

Bridford Allotments annual competition

Judging of the allotment competition took place in August and Andy and Lynne Bornemisza were awarded the cup for productivity at the September Parish Council meeting. Leanne Bird received a special commendation for biodiversity.

Play park

Many thanks to those who contributed their views at the Bridford fete to the consultation about the play park. Next steps for the plan to enhance the play park are currently being considered.

Hedgerows

The management of hedgerows was discussed and advice for this is given in a separate article below.