Updates from our 5 October meeting

Bike ramps discussion

Lots of residents came along to the meeting to highlight the strength of feeling about creating a local facility for cycling, particularly ramps. Several options were discussed, including using part of Burlescombe open space or a section of the Old Railway Line (ORL). Discussions touched on the positive impact on health and wellbeing, the courteous nature of the young bikers, safety, cost, potential legal and insurance requirements and protecting wildlife and biodiversity. We thank all those who attended for their thoughtful contributions – particularly the young people – and we look forward to working with the community to find a solution. The Parish Council is contacting Mid Devon District Council about the use of Burlescombe open space as a starting point. Members of the community are putting together their thoughts on different options, so the Parish Council can best support them in pursuing a positive outcome as soon as possible. We will hold an extra 30-minute session at 6.30pm at our Weds 18 November meeting to cover this topic.

Planning and development survey results

Thank you to everyone who responded to our survey about planning and development. The findings of this research combined with previous resident surveys, your comments on planning applications and insight from other community engagement will all inform our draft Neighbourhood Priorities Statement (NPS). You can see the report about the results here. The draft NPS will be shared with the community for review and feedback soon.

Emergency Planning

We will hold a public meeting on Saturday 28 November at 2pm at Burlescombe & Westleigh Community Hall to help get our community ready to respond to emergency situations. Put the date in your diary and we’ll share more soon! We are also printing a guide for households to help them plan for emergencies. We will likely hand deliver these in the villages and post them out to the more remote houses. Westleigh URC have confirmed we can use the church hall as a hub in the event of an emergency. We are just awaiting official confirmation from Burlescombe & Westleigh Community Hall.

Footpath issue Canonsleigh

A very large hole has opened up right next to the public footpath by Canonsleigh Abbey. This is being inspected (by Devon County Council and Heritage England) and may result in a footpath closure/diversion. If you are walking this path, please be extra careful in this area. We will inform you of any updates as we received them.

Local water quality testing results

Cllrs McDonald and Smith recently took part in the Great UK WaterBlitz, a citizen science project to help to build a picture of water quality across the UK. Two areas in our parish were tested, one of which tested positive for high nitrate levels. See our report for more information. Following the outing, a report was made to the Environment Agency about the strong sewage odour at one of the testing points. The EA has responded stating that two sources of pollution were identified and they are investigating.

Old Railway Line survey and tree works

An ecological survey will be undertaken on the Old Railway Line to help us determine how best to manage this habitat for maximum benefits to biodiversity. The results of the survey, which is being funded by Holcim (the quarry company), will be published on our website.

Works will soon take place to remove some leylandii from the west side of the ORL as identified in our tree report.

South View planning application

A tree report is still awaited in relation to the application to build on the garages/parking area in South View and therefore this has still not been to MDDC Planning Committee. The Parish Council still plans to gather our Planning Committee to discuss this and we will keep the community updated.

Westleigh play park

The middle fence in Westleigh play park has been replaced.

Our next meeting

Our next meeting is on Wednesday 18 November at Burlescombe & Westleigh Community Hall at 7pm, with the discussion about bike ramps taking place from 6.30pm.

We will be discussing the precept for next year at this meeting, an important one to attend if you can, to understand how we make decisions about our community and council tax.