Following the Town Council meeting this evening, I wanted to share a few thoughts/points that arose that I think some may be interested by. These are my ‘scribbles’ and ‘thoughts’ and may not be ‘word perfect’ as a result – and please remember my posting policy as this is my view/thoughts and not a formal response for the Town Council itself.
20mph / 20 is Plenty Updates
We were advised by our DCC representative that there is still not an appetite or enthusiasm as it were for the concept – and cost continues to be a factor. We were advised that we may wish to consider what further ‘nudges’ the Town Council may wish to give to DCC – perhaps thinking about joining with other communities in terms of suggesting a change to county or national policy on residential speeds – Cllr Gent for DCC suggested one reason we may wish to think about this is that a blanket policy could take a lot of cost out by not needing to replace or put in a lot of signage. It is always disappointing that in residential areas 20 is not just ‘the default’ in my personal view – although I do also fully understand those who are concerned about such reductions spreading to more major roads, something I can see would have far less potential benefit and which is clearly more contentious.
Please remember though that the Town Council ultimately doesn’t control the roads and can only ‘lean’ on those responsible to try and help push them along, it hasn’t got the option of ‘enforcing’ or ‘changing’ the roads themselves!
Yellow Lines
There is evidence of preparatory works being undertaken – it was asked by another Councillor of our DCC representative if there was any better indication of ‘when’ as it was previously thought to be something that would take quite some time before it was implemented and our DCC representative indicated they would try and find out for us. If you missed it previously there was a consultation about putting in some yellow lines in select areas around the Town.
East Devon District Council Town Centre consultation
It was proposed that we submit a response to EDDC on the current Town Centre Consultation. I raised my objections that in the proposed response the Town Council was offering a ‘priority’ of the items that should be given most attention. My concern is that having asked, we haven’t as a Town Council done any formal canvassing – others disagree or felt that as individuals can respond they can strongly provide views but I remained of the view we should not be submitting our ‘preferences’ when we’ve not taken a meaningful view of what residents would like.
For this reason I voted against submitting the response as it was outlined (the response will be submitted as the majority voted for it as written). To be clear, I’m not against new facilities in the town, far from it, but I am not happy to submit responses when we haven’t directly undertaken some form of ‘survey’ ourselves to get a better and more balanced handle on what people would like.
You can view the document responses that are to be submitted here if you’re interested:
Pump Track
Happy to say that the Council voted to accept the documents for tendering this which means the next steps can begin towards finding a suitable contractor to develop this facility which a good number are keen to see arrive in the town.
Noticeboards
We have agreed to put an additional noticeboard in the Platinum Park which is an area of Cranbrook without any noticeboard at present – you’ll possibly recall a few months back I did some surveys to see what people think of them and if they’re useful & I remain of the view that sufficient people find them helpful and useful that we should keep having them around the town. The Council also voted to get those located in the Country Park renamed to say they’re ‘Cranbrook Country Park’ noticeboards and help reaffirm the identity of the Country Park. I also noted the board at the Railway Station that doesn’t belong to the Town Council, but which has an unloved section as if it was part of the Town Council and suggested we ask those responsible to remove it since it doesn’t get maintained by the Town Council and thus has not got useful information in it.
Outdoor Gym
It was agreed to move the suggested/expected location in light of other changes in the Town – if you missed it, this is where we’ve agreed to move it:
Interest in an item
For completeness & my transparency commitment, item 19 on the agenda concerned the maintenance and servicing of some heating/hot water and ventilation systems in the Younghayes Centre. As one of the potential quotes included a customer of my business, and although it wouldn’t have influenced my decision, I declared a potential interest and didn’t take part in that item on the Agenda to remove any chance of a conflict of interest arising.
Finally, just to remind you – these are my ‘scribbled’ thoughts and not a formal view or notice from the Town Council itself – the full minutes & official record of the meeting will be published by the Town Council in due course, and you can always download the Agenda from the meeting below – the public documents are also on the Town Council web site meetings section.