Preparing for Winter Storms and Dealing with Floods

If you have any problems with flooding help is available.

South Hams District Council holds a supply of sandbags and householders can usually collect up to six of these from the depot in Babbage Road, Totnes.

Telephone: 01803 861234 

Rattery Parish Council has, in addition, purchased filled sandbags which can be made available for parishioners to protect their property from flooding. If you need them simply get in touch with any of the parish councillors. 

We are in constant liaison with the Highways Authority, Devon County Council, about maintaining good  drainage so if you have a problem or encounter  flooding on the roads please let the Parish Council know and, ideally, also report highways flooding on the DCC website – the link is on the roads section of the parish website.

Contact details for the Parish Council are on the parish website.

If you have already experience flooding, or you believe you may be at risk, there are steps you can take to protect your property. Further information is available by following the link below. 

https://www.southhams.gov.uk/article/4306/Preventing-Flooding

Website Changes

You may have noticed some changes to the structure of the parish website and, in particular, to the Parish Council and Parish Plan sections.

We are in the process of simplifying these pages to make sure parishioners can find the information they need more easily,  and editing them to make sure that the information on them is up to date.

The process will take a week or so but by the end we hope that the Parish Website is even more informative than before.

If you have any ideas about these matters please get in touch - contact details are on the website.

Best wishes,
Richard Haigh
Chairman, Rattery P.C.

New footpath opening at last

We are pleased to announce that the new footpath is ready to be opened. The official opening ceremony will take place at 11.00 a.m. on Saturday October 6th. Everyone is welcome to come along and walk the path for the first time - and there will be tea, coffee and cakes!

All this is happening a little later in the year than we hoped. Bureaucratic delays by the Charity Commission have created problems for us -  principally in delaying our access to funds needed to get some of the necessary work done. But all these issues are now thankfully resolved and we can get the footpath into use.

There is still work to be done in terms of conservation work, erecting permanent signage and displays, and possibly setting up new dog-litter bins but none of that stops our using the footpath.

The project has been managed by the Rattery Environment Group, which is a new charity set up to promote the "betterment of the local environment and leisure facilities" in the parish. They secured a grant from the National Grid Community Fund which enabled it all to happen.

So with the kind permission of the landowners, Dartington Hall, Devon and Cornwall Housing and Mr and Mrs Martin, we have a new permissive footpath in the heart of the village.

Do come along on the 6th October to help us celebrate a great new facility for the parish.

Update on Kettlewell Project

You may have seen that the new fencing has now been completed and gates installed but the new footpath is not yet opened as work has still to be done.

We have to clear the path of docks and seed it with grass and we have still to lay hardcore on the section of path by  Cummings Pond Lane. We will be putting in a seat in the top corner of the field near the existing public footpath and installing signage and a dog waste bin. 

So there is still a lot to be done but progress is being made.

Annual Report 2018

The Annual Report of the Parish Council will be finalised and approved at our meeting next week.Then we will send a copy to every household in the parish.

In the meantime the best way of checking on our progress is to have a look at the 12 month evaluation of the Parish Plan. http://www.ratteryvillage.co.uk/Pages/Rattery%20Parish%20Plan.html

This should give you a good idea of where progress has been made and where there is still work to be done.

If you want more information, or if you have any questions to ask or issues to raise then please get in touch - all the contact details you need are on the parish website http://www.ratteryvillage.co.uk/Pages/Parish_Council.html

Road Warden at work

Our volunteer Road Warden, Lister Bass, and his team have been hard at work repairing potholes. Many thanks to them.

Don't forget to let us know if you spot any problems on the lanes - flooding, potholes, etc.

Just email Sharon Raggett, our clerk, and she will pass the information on to the right people.

sharon.raggett@sky.com

March Meeting Report

The Parish Council meeting took place last Tuesday and the minutes will be published in due course. 

In the meantime here are the headline points:

• We have been awarded over £4,000 from the National Grid Community Fund towards the cost of the Kettlwell Conservation Project (see an earlier blog). So we can now crack on with this project.

 

• We are in the process of setting up a regular Youth Club in the Village Hall and we have already taken receipt of a new table tennis table, pool table and table football in preparation.

 

• We have made representations to the Examination of the Joint Local Plan reinforcing our position that, for reasons of sustainability and lack of further need, no  case can be made for further housing development in the village.

 

• We will investigate the costs and benefits of producing a Neighbourhood Plan for the parish and consult with the parish about the idea.

The next meeting on April 10^th at 7.30 p.m. is, in fact, the Parish Assembly. This is the occasion on which the Parish Council reports back to the parish on its year’s activities. You will be able to see displays reporting on each aspect of the council’s activities, including the Advisory Groups who are taking the lead in delivering the Parish Plan. 

There will opportunities to ask questions and express your thoughts about parish matters. Your input is very important to keep us on the right track. We hope you will join us.

Richard Haigh