Hughes Report - Online News Letter Welcome
to this the online version of the 'HUGHES REPORT' which many of you
have received through your letter boxes during the last 12 months.
Unlike the hard copy which concentrated on areas of the
division/ward, the online version will cover all of the Sidmouth
Sidford electoral division/ward and will be regularly updated on
issues that I have been working on in and around the area.
10/04/09 FORTESCUE will
soon be put well and truly on the map when the calming scheme is
implemented at either end of the hamlet. Part of the scheme is the
provision of Fortescue signs with the wording 'Please drive slowly'
to the north will be a priority system and the the south buff strips
on the road with SLOW marked between them.
30/03/09 STOWFORD RISE
COMMUNITY CENTRE
At long last it finally looks as though the Stowford Rise
Community Centre is going to be built. Having secured £250k from
the proceeds of the sale of Exeter Airport and with the substantial
106 funding agreement agreed as part of the new Waitrose development
by East Devon plus the £20k from the Town Council.....and having
also made the case for the Sidmouth Childrens Centre to be sited at
Stowford Rise who will also bring a substantial amount of funding to
the table plus the involvement of the PCT we are looking at a total
figure approaching £1.0million.
We now need to set up a steering group/ management committee to
oversee the initial build stage and to also manage the finished
community centre.... interested in helping? if you are give me a
call on 578414
3/03/09 AIRPORT FUNDING
HELPS LOCAL PRE-SCHOOL
I am delighted to have been in a position to help and support
the Sidmouth Pre-school who are based at All Saints School in their
efforts to provide shelter to the youngsters who attend through the
County Council's local community fund scheme where every councillor
was given £25,000 to help projects in their area. I have also
provided funding £5,000 towards the restoration of Kennaway House
which was on top of the £60,000 which I put forward and supported
for the final phase of restoration works.
12/02/09 FUNDING
FOR REPLACEMENT YOUTH SHELTER
I have made a commitment to make available/put a bid into the
County Council for a replacement/upgraded facility for our young
people at the Manstone playing fields... this was discussed at the
Sidmouth Town Youth Council and I am delighted that I am in the
position to make it happen. Hopefully following agreement being
given by the Town Council's Trustees it wont be too long before this
facility is provided.
11/01/09 DROPPED
FOOTWAY IN LYMEBOURNE PARK
The saga of the dropped footway that was put in to help those
with disabilities get around Lymebourne Park and then was removed as
the local residents weren't happy with the location will be sorted
with the dropped footway being put in as near as possible to the
first site. Work should be carried out in February.
22/10/08 REQUEST FOR
ADDITIONAL BUS STOP
Having received representations over difficulties some elderly
passengers are at present experiencing having alighted from the
157 service in Alexandria Road where they have to walk some
considerable distance home with shopping I have called for an
additional bus stop to be provided at the top (Station Road) end
of Alexandria Road. There are some drivers who do stop there for
passengers to alight however there are also some who don't.
16/10/08 AGREEMENT
REACHED ON FINAL PIECE IN SIDFORD JIGSAW
I and I'm sure the residents of Sidford will be celebrating this
week when they read/ hear the news that the final piece in the
quality of life highway/footway improvement works in
Sidford that I called for when the County Council abandoned the
by-pass scheme are at last reaching a conclusion.
Agreement has now been reached with the landowner of Porch Cottage
in Church Street where it is required to move the wall back to
enable the footway to be widened. This is the narrowest section of
footway where several pedestrians have been hit by passing vehicles
mirrors and there have also been incidents where vehicles have
mounted the footway.
This is brilliant news and the residents of Sidford who take their
lives in their hands walking along this narrow footway that slopes
towards the highway are going to be delighted. This has been a long
drawn out saga and at long last it looks as though it is reaching a
happy conclusion and because the landowner has reached an agreement
with the County Council there will be no long protracted compulsory
purchase involved which I was dreading.
It is now hoped that work on the final piece in the jigsaw will
begin in early 2009 which will be a great way to start the new year.
15/09/08 Go ahead
given for Sidford Road Puffin Crossing. I am delighted to be
able to report that at the East Devon Highways and Traffic Orders
Committee that I Chair the committee unanimously agreed to the
provision of this much needed crossing at the rear entrance to
Sidmouth College (Clayhill Lane) at a cost of £60,000.
It only seems like yesterday that having called for a crossing
that a site meeting took place with myself Paul Wilson
(Traffic Engineer) and Dennis Simmonds D&C Police and agreement
was reached that something needed to be done. The crossing when
implemented will also be of considerable benefit to pedestrians
crossing the A375 and also St Nicholas and Sidmouth Infants schools
who's walking buses take this route. I am hoping that the crossing
will be in place by Christmas.... so lets keep our fingers
crossed.
22/05/08 Sidmouth FolkWeek
dances towards success
DANCE GROUPS from the UK and abroad will be performing in Devon
this August thanks to a grant from Devon County Council.
The Council is giving £10,000 to the Sidmouth FolkWeek.
The money will specifically be used to support the event's dance
programme which features visitors from France, Latvia and the
Isle of Man.
Sidmouth FolkWeek is the modern name for a event, that
started as a small-scale dance festival. It is believed to be
the longest surviving folk festival of its kind in the UK having
run continuously since 1954, and regularly sets standards that
others like to emulate. Over the years it has grown to encompass
most aspects of folk music, dance and related genres.
FolkWeek will this year be offering over 700 separate events
over eight days. From the top names in folk, to dancing and
workshops, the festival covers sounds ranging from the Irish
fiddle, Northumbrian pipes and hurdy gurdy to electric guitar
and the human voice.
Sidmouth County Councillor
Stuart
Hughes said: "I am delighted that the County Council
has agreed to make a considerable donation towards this year's
Folk Festival. The event is the biggest in Europe and plays an
important role in Sidmouth's calendar, attracting visitors from
all over the world. Its continuation is therefore vital for
the local economy and the £10,000 from the County Council
will go along way to ensure this goal."
The event has been praised in the new edition of the Rough
Guide to Great Britain, and is listed as 'best event' in
Frommer's 2008 Family Guide to Devon and Cornwall.
Sidmouth Folk week runs from 1 - 8 August. For further
information go to http://www.sidmouthfolkweek.co.uk
Notes to Editors:
The cheque for £10,000 will be presented to Chris Cook
(Dance Display Organiser), Barry Lister (SFW Charity Director)
and Eddie Upton (Artistic Director) by Cllr Sheila
Hobden and Cllr Stuart
Hughes on Friday 4th July at 10.30am at Connaught
Gardens, Sidmouth.
22/05/08 Presentation
notes to Sidmouth Vision Group
Thank you for inviting me to your meeting
and may I say just how much I welcome the work and the dedication
the vision group carries out… I only hope that you don’t get too
frustrated in the time it seems to take to get anything done or see
any action being taken by the local authorities.
When I first got elected to both East Devon in
1991 and the County
Council in 1993 I thought that I was going to change things and get
things done overnight….. I soon found out that this wasn’t the
case.
I also soon learn’t how to ensure that if I
was going to be instrumental in getting things done and by that I
mean larger schemes that I had to set about it at an
early stage and get those schemes included in future LTP’s
however before that happened agreement had to be sought by other
parties affected by the scheme.
One such scheme is of course the second phase
of the Byes Cycleway from
Sid Park Road
to Sidford….. I actually laid down the marker for this scheme and
set around the long process to get it included in the LTP on the
completion of the first phase from
Sid Park Road
to
Salcombe Road
eight to nine years ago.
That is how long it has taken to get this scheme up and running
however it still isn’t
completed for whilst we have the Sid Park to Primley leg open, the
most important section through to Sidford and the link to Fortescue
Road will now not be started until September as there are still some
outstanding issues to be agreed by one of the land owners.
I shall certainly be pleased to see this
scheme completed as it will provide a safe off road route to the
Community College for the pupils young and old. It will also be
beneficial to tourism and our local economy and will hopefully
encourage more local residents to get on their bikes and cycle into
Sidmouth which will reduce the amount of cars and congestion in the
town centre.
Whist on the subject of Cycleways there has
been a vast amount of media coverage regarding a scheme from Feniton
to Sidmouth which my fellow County Councillor Rogers Giles is
leading on with myself looking after the Sidmouth section from the
Bowd of this proposal.
What I can tell you is that a bid has been
submitted for some proceeds from the sale of
Exeter
Airport
towards this scheme and that I spent an afternoon with the Officer
overseeing this scheme to determine what would be the best option
off road and on road for the Sidmouth section.
I felt that to do this scheme any justice that it
needed to link up with the Byes Cycleway
and therefore the route we looked at off road from the Bowd
would follow the old railway line down to the old railway bridge
across Ice House Lane and then drop down to Woolbrook Road where a
cycle lane would be marked on the highway down to the Manstone Lane
Alexandria Road junction…. The cycleway would then go down through
Long Park (which is in the ownership of East Devon and agreement
would be needed from them) to Sidford Road where a Toucan Crossing
would be installed which I also know would be welcomed by the
residents of Lymebourne Park who have bent my ear for a safe
crossing point. A new access point would then be made through the
bank into
Lymebourne
Park
where the cycleway would then go through to
Lymebourne Lane
it would then drop down through and link up with the Byes Cycleway.
This is what is known as forward visioning and you heard
about it first this evening. Of
course prior to any work being carried out there will be a proactive
consultation exercise carried out and the necessary planning
permission will be required as was the case for the Byes Scheme.
Park
and Ride
Well this is something I first called for for
Sidmouth back in 1991….. 17
years ago and as yet it hasn’t materialised… however it is
rewarding to think that now everyone appears to be
coming round to my way of thinking… that if you are going
to seriously improve the shopping experience in our town both Park
and Ride along with Pedestrianisation or at least partial
pedestrianisation is the way ahead…. After all it works everywhere
else it has been implemented.
When I attended a previous Vision Group
meeting with Devon County Council’s Traffic Engineer Paul Wilson I
mentioned that PB Consultants had carried out a survey and prepared
a report in which an area of land was mentioned that had been
identified for both Park and Ride and Industrial uses. This area of
land is at the top of
Woolbrook Road
as you drive towards Stowford Corner on the A3052.
The Par and Ride site could accommodate 500 cars
and provide a bus interchange facility.
I mentioned this at the meeting the local District
Councillors had to discuss the LDF at
East Devon
.
I also believe that this site could well
accommodate a state of the art CARC Civic Amenity Site which would
replace the current facility at Woods Farm.
I have spoken to the County Recycling Officer
about this and I understand he has had some preliminary talks with
Persimmon Homes who own the land and hope at some stage to carry out
some more development in the area.
When you consider that there will most probably be
a requirement for Sidmouth to take another 1,000 properties you can
see just how important it is to get all the cards in order and at an
early stage.
At the last Vision Group meeting I attended I
also spoke of my vision for Pedestrianisation and also touched on
changing the flow of vehicles in the town which would help relieve
the current sometimes grid locked situation.
I am quite happy to lay both of these concepts
on the table once again (both in the past have been featured in
Kingsley Squire articles in the Sidmouth Herald) at a future date
however I don’t believe that this is the forum and therefore what
I should like to say in finishing my presentation is that:-
IF WE ARE SERIOUS ABOUT IMPROVING SIDMOUTH’S ENVIRONMENT AND
BELIEVE THAT PARK AND
RIDE AND EITHER FULL OR PARTIAL PEDESTRIANISATION OF THE TOWN IS THE
WAY TO ACHIEVE THIS ….. THEN IT NEEDS TO BE IDENTIFIED NOW IF ITS
GOING TO STAND ANY CHANCE OF INCLUSION IN THE NEXT LTP 2012 – 2016
WE SHALL NEED TO DRAW UP A MINI SCHEME BRIEF
AND THAT IS WAY VISION GROUP MEMBERS AS THE LOCAL
COUNTY COUNCILLOR IN MY LOCAL LEADERSHIP ROLE I BELIEVE THAT IT IS
NOW TIME TO GET ALL PARTIES TOGETHER AROUND THE TABLE
INCLUDING REPRESENTATIVES FROM THE TOWN COUNCIL, DISTRICT COUNCIL,
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE HOSPILTALITY ASSOCIATION, POLICE AND THIS GROUP
ETC AND COMMENCE
PREPARATION WORK ON THE WAY AHEAD.
WE HAVE DONE ENOUGH TALKING
ITS NOW TIME FOR ACTION LETS GET ON WITH IT.
2/05/08 Flashing Warning
School signs in Woolbrook Road advising drivers to take extra
care and watch out for children going to and from St Nicholas School
will be in situ within the next three weeks. These signs which I
called for will also benefit children who attend Sidmouth Infants.
27/03/08 They always say that all good things
come to those who wait and I am delighted to report that 18 months
on from a meeting that I held with Stagecoach Devon in Exeter
regarding the possibility of re-routing the 157 Coast Link service
to take in Woolbrook Road (service operates between
Sidmouth and Exmouth) that Stagecoach have now agreed to the suggestion
and Woolbrook Road will be included in the route from May 19th
2008.
11/01/08 (UPDATE) At long last work will start on
the 1st February on the first of two phases to take the Byes cycle track
through to Sidford. The first phase will see the completion of the
section between Sid Park Road and Primley and then hopefully if the
funding is secured through the Transport Plan the phase from Primley
to Sidford along with the Fortescue link will be carried out later
in the 08/09 financial year.
02/11/07 (UPDATE) The Traffic Order that I agreed to
pay for out of my Locality budget has now been advertised. This will address several community concerns including the section of
highway between Alexandria Road and Arcot Road where vehicles
parking at present cause considerable problem especially for those
egressing from Arcot Park. It is proposed to put in a length of
double yellow lines. Two other areas of concern that will be
included on the order which will be advertised in due course are the
problems bus drivers have negotiating the Triangle through cars
parking on double yellow lines and where it is proposed to put in a
section of no loading unloading restriction. Also the top of High
Street at the Gateway to the town where inconsiderate motorists park
across the footway this too it is being looked to put in a section
of no loading unloading restriction. The visibility issue at
the top of Sid Park Road has also been included in this order.
11/01/08 (UPDATE) Work on
the long awaited traffic calming
scheme on Stowford Rise which compises of two Table Top
junctions at Chambers Close and Bakers Close and a raised junction
at Lock Close has now been completed the contractors are now putting
the finishing touches to all the remaining drop kebs on Stowford
Rise and these should be finished by the end of January 08.
8/10/07 I have provided the funding from my
locality/community budget for the County Council to carry out
the marking of a disabled Blue Badge space and other spaces for the
Sidford Social Hall. This issue was raised during the audit carried
out on the hall.At present there is no parking provision for Blue
Badge holders at this venue. The marking of this and the other bays
will make better use of the space available for parking at this
local social facility.
4/9/07 £1,500 will kick start campaign for
Sidmouth CCTV system. My locality/community budget has certainly
been of considerable help to many organisations in and around my
electoral division. I have been promoting the benefits of CCTV for
more years than I can remember and we have all seen other towns
installing systems to combat crime. Sidmouth's weakness in not
having a CCTV system of its own has seen us becoming the magnet for
the travelling criminal/s. It now looks as though things will change
with the Chamber of Commerce picking up the baton and running with
it. The town council have earmarked £10k and I have committed
£1,500 from my locality budget to kick start the fund raising
campaign which is looking for £40,000 in total which will give
Sidmouth an excellent system.
28/8/07 Defibrillator will help save lives at Rugby
Club. I am delighted that thanks to my locality/community budget
I am in a position to help Sidmouth Rugby Football Club purchase a
top of the range defibrillator. This surely must be one of the most
important pieces of first aid equipment that sports clubs should own
in helping save the lives of players or spectators who have suffered
from a heart attack. The club have raised £300 towards the
defibrillator themselves and I shall be presenting the cheque
to the club for the balance of £979 within the next two
weeks.
20/8/07 Call for wooden Fire Escapes to be replaced.
Following the tragic fire at the Newquay Hotel where guests who
were vacating the burning building then had to contend with a
blazing wooden fire escape, I am calling on the Devon and Somerset
Fire and Rescue Authority to make representation to the Government
through the LGA for legislation/policy to be implemented at the
earliest opportunity for ALL wooden fire escapes to be replaced by
those made of steel. Community Safety is of such a high priority and
in this day and age there shouldn't be any wooden fire escapes on
any hotel or public building.
14/8/07 Town Council support my calls for listing Alma
Bridge and A3052 speed reduction. I was delighted with the
unanimous support given by the Town Council to my calls to list the
Alma Bridge. (see Hughes Report 2/7/07)
This bridge is part of Sidmouth's history and provides a vital link
in connecting those who live on the east of the river Sid to the
town. It is also our gateway to the SW Coast Path FP 120. We now
have to hope that English Heritage will agree to the listing of the
bridge.
As for the reduction of speed limit to 50mph on the A3052
between Trow Hill and Seaton Down Hill whilst this received support
through the casting vote of the Chairman Tom Cox I am delighted with
the result as this adds weight to the move that will hopefully lead
to a reduction in crashes/or less serious crashes.
9/8/07 Request for bus stop at Sidmouth Garden Centre Having
received several requests from Sidmouth residents who at present
have great difficulty in getting to the Sidmouth Garden Centre on
the A3052, I have written to the County Council's Transport section
requesting that consideration be given to providing an additional
Bus Stop outside the garden centre.
1/8/07Sid Valley Horticultural Society Roger Giles
and I have joined forces once again in providing £250 towards the
Sid Valley Horticultural Society 79th Annual Gardening and Craft
Show on Saturday 18th August at SidfordSports Field Byes Lane. As I
have mentioned many times in my blog there are many organisations
such as this one that are feeling the heat from ever increasing
costs to put these shows on and both Roger and myself are delighted
that through our locality/community budget we have been able to help
towards the running costs and hope that the show is successful.
1/8/07 Playdays. I made a
donation from my Community/locality budget towards the Playdays
"Our Streets Too' which was held at Lower Brook Meadow on Friday 3rd August between 12.00 Noon and 3.00pm all children
from the Sid Valley were invited to attend for three hours of
traditional fun and games and a good time was had by one and all.
25/7/07 Trailer Danger on A375 I have requested some
information on the law re the parking up of a boxed trailer on the
A375 Arcot Road as I feel that this is creating a danger to drivers
of vehicles heading in both directions.
25/7/07 Traffic Order to overcome problems in Arcot
Road? I have called for a traffic order to be raised at the
earliest opportunity for a length of dbl yellow lines to be provided
on the south side of Arcot Road between the junction of Alexandria
Road and Arcot Park junction with Arcot Road. This would alleviate
the danger that currently exist for the drivers of vehicles
egressing from Arcot Park who's visibility is impaired by parked
vehicles in this section of road. This traffic order could also pick
up the issue highlighted below. (I have indicated that I would be
prepared to put some of my community funding towards this traffic
order). I have received confirmation from the County's Traffic
Engineer that the Police and Town Council will be consulted on
their views for both issues.
19/7/07 Crash highlights problem
junction. The problems that exist at the Winslade Road, Arcot
Road/Temple Street junction were highlighted through a crash earlier
this evening. I have now contacted the traffic engineer to establish
where we are with the removal of two on street parking places on the
eastern side of Temple Street which would help improve the situation
there.
18/7/07 Community Fund in action at
Appletree. I received an invitation to the Appletree Pre-School
based at Sidmouth Infants School to see just how the money that
I provided them with out of my Community fund budget to purchase a
computer system and wooden play house was benefiting the youngsters.
It was amazing to see how at such a young age they were already well
in control of the mouse and accessing information on the computer,
they will be taking this experience right through their years at
school and I am delighted that I have been in a position to make IT
happen for them.
Watching the children using
IT In the wooden
play house
17/7/07 Update Sidford High Street street lighting.
Street lighting all working properly however we now have the inconvenience
of the traffic light being out whilst the gas company are working in
Sidford Road due to a major gas leak and the hold-ups are
horrendous.
19/7/07 Sidmouth Radway Pelican
Crossing. This crossing which is over 20 years old has been
malfunctioning far too frequently recently and is reaching the end
of its life. I have called for it to be replaced with a PUFIN
Pedestrian User Friendly INtelligent type. The officers are
now to bid for the funding as the upgrade will cost almost £30k and
hopefully if they are successful the new crossing will be in situ
before the end of the financial year.
11/7/07 Sidford. The solar powered Speed Visor
that I called for as part of the improvements in the village when
the County sold off the Relief Road land is now in situ in
Church Street and is already playing its role in helping reduce the
speed of vehicles coming into Sidford from the east.
Land acquisition negotiations to widen the footway outside Porch
Cottages is moving very slowly and this will no doubt delay the
scheme taking place. The funding necessary was agreed by the East
Devon Highways and Traffic Orders Committee back in March.
8/7/07 A3052 50mph extension? I have requested that
consideration should be given to implementing a further section of
50mph speed limit on the A3052 between Trow Hill as you go out from
the 40mph limit through to Seaton Down Hill where the 40mph begins
as you drop down to Colyford. This would I believe help considerably
in reducing the amount of crashes on this section of road. It would
also tie in with the 50mph speed limit to the west of Newton
Poppleford between Halfway House and Cat and
Fiddle.
6/7/07 Sidford High Street street lighting. Having
received numerous calls from local residents of Sidford regarding
the street lighting in High Street that had been on 24/7 for two -
three weeks, I reported the problem and left a message with the
County Council's Street Lighting Engineer Mark Johnson who has now
been back to me and has explained what was the cause of the problem.
In his email to me he said:- 'It appears that Western Power
Distribution have carried out works in the High Street to do with a
disused garage (Sidford Service Station), whilst there they replaced
a large amount of overhead service supplies. This in turn has meant
that the street lighting supply has been made live 24/7. In their
wisdom they failed to inform us Devon County Council of this
fact!!!'
SEC will be attending site within the next few days to install
photocells to the lanterns and return them to normal operation.
I also raised the issue of who would be paying for the
energy/electricity that has been burning away 24/7 and have been
assured that the additional energy used is down to Western Power
Distribution.
4/7/07 High Street to remain two
way. I can now confirm that the top section of High Street
between All Saints Road and Blackmore Drive is to remain two way.
Having looked into the pro's and con's the traffic engineers have
taken on board the concerns being expressed from the undertakers who
would have had to have driven their hearses through the town
if made one way, the health centre/doctors surgery and those using
the library. This move would have contributed to the gridlock that
regularly occurs in the town especially during the summer months.
Consideration is to be given to introducing a length of no
loading/unloading restriction on the west side of High Street
between Blackmore Drive and the entrance to the indoor market. This
would help in preventing the hold up's that presently occur when
vehicles are parked in this section of road.
2/7/07Alma Bridge listing? I was taken back when
I heard that the Alma Bridge wasn't listed I certainly believe that
it warrants it and have therefore set the ball in motion by
contacting the District Council's Conservation and Heritage Officer
who has given me the full SP and here they are. The normal
principles of selection criteria are:
architectural interest; historic interest; close historical
associations; and group value.
Age and rarity are also factors and this would normally include all
pre 1840 structures. The younger the building or structure their
selection becomes more selective.
Requests to list a building etc are now dealt with by English
Heritage and should be accompanied by a full justification for the
listing; a location plan; nearby listed buildings (of which there
are none in this instance); detailed photographs; information about
the bridge (date etc); function: historical associations; name of
architect if known; group value in the street scene etc.
If you have any information that would help in the process of
getting ALMA listed then please contact me on either Sidmouth 578414
or mobile 07725 708891
Sidford Playgroup receive funding. I was delighted to have
been able to provide the £725 required for the Sidford Playgroup to
purchase a laptop computer for administration purposes and also some
inflatable building bricks for the children to play with. This
funding came out of my Community budget and all the Sidmouth
Pre-schools as well as other organisations have now benefited from
some funding.
Presenting cheque for £725 to
Janice May Chairperson of Sidford Playgroup
Fortescue Road update 28/6/07: The Area
Engineer Tony Matthews and I held an interesting meeting with the
residents representative of Fortescue regarding their concerns over
speeding motorists and other related safety issues. It was
quite clear that the removal of street lighting to enable 30mph
repeater signs wasn't an option. Speed checks will however be
carried out to gauge the level of speeding and horse riders warning
signs are to be erected. The residents are also concerned and quite
rightly so over the amount of HGV's that are using Fortescue/Sid
Road to the town and I do believe that a weight limit should
be introduced at the earliest opportunity. The residents will
hopefully be carrying out a HGV survey which will indicate how many
drivers are taking this route into Sidmouth. One resident had drawn
up a scheme for two pinch points in Fortescue Road which would
provide a priority system, this is to be evaluated.
Fortescue is actually signed from the A3052 as it is a hamlet, I am
therefore seeking the erection of Fortescue signs with "please
drive slowly' these along with rumble strips should at least draw
drivers attention to the fact that they should slow down and take
extra care.
Community Fund. Sidbury United FC and Sidford Playgroup are
the latest recipients to benefit from my Community/locality budget.
Having teamed up with fellow County Councillor Roger Giles who went
halves Sidbury United have received £1,000 to provide a metalled
path and hard standing which will enable those with disabilities and
in wheelchairs to be able to watch the forthcoming seasons fixtures
at the Sidford ground. There will also be enough money left to
replace the dugouts.
Sidford Playgroup are to receive £725 from my funding which will
provide a much needed laptop for administration and blow up bricks
for the toddlers. (SEE ABOVE)
6/7/07Alma Bridge maintenance work that I called for
is almost finished. All the wooden framework has been
re-varnished/stained and as has the work on the
underside. The bridge is so important as it not only the gateway to
the SW Coast Path FP120 but also is the lifeline of residents who
live east of the Sid.
Photos:- As it was and how it is looking now.
20 mph zone for town and
Esplanade? The implementation of a 20mph zone which would cover
the town and Esplanade could be moving a step closer following a
meeting of the Sidmouth Traffic Management Group that I chair and
has representation on it from both the town and district council's.
Local resident John Mullin's who has been championing the cause for
the 20mph zone addressed the meeting where it was agreed that an
Environment audit would be carried out to see if the area being
considered would be achievable. More news on this in weeks to come.
Update 8/7/07
Woolbrook Footway
Enhancement completed. The finishing touches were being carried
out the new slabbed/pavier footway in the Woolbrook Centre and what
an improvement it has made. The carriageway is due to be
reconstructed during the October half term holidays. The footways in Balfours
have now been resurfaced/reconstructed.
The floral Fire Engine along with the hanging baskets which I
provided the funding for through my Community budget are now in situ
outside the Fire and Ambulance Station in Woolbrook Road and
hopefully will receive top marks from the judges later this summer
and help Sidmouth pull off another award.
Sidford to Sid Park Cycle Track. The planning permission for
the second phase of the cycle track has now been granted by the
County Council's Development Control Committee. There were several
areas that had to be addressed one of which was raised by the
Environment Agency who weren't happy with the proposal for an
additional bridge over the Woolbrook for cyclists and therefore
there will be a new bridge with shared use. I certainly look forward
to the scheme progressing as it will provide a safe off road route
for cyclists to both the town and community college. |