AS the chairman of the senior scrutiny committee at Devon County Council I have had several briefings from senior officers.

The half-year budget situation shows that we are running an overspend of £4 million but this is £2 million less than the previous month.

There will be financial challenges ahead following the budget because although the government says it will cover the increase in employer's National Insurance contributions (which could top £13 million) the increase in the minimum wage was more than officers expected and so this will have to be accommodated.

All budget holders know that they have two important things to do, namely reduce costs but maintain services. I do not envy them.

At a Cabinet meeting we were told that there is to be an increase in On Street rapid charging EV points.

I fired off an email to the relevant officer asking for a map of locations and stressing the need for these points can be installed on the streets of our smaller towns and larger villages.

This is the only way we are going to increase the use of electric vehicles in the countryside.

Reply was that they are taking great care to make sure that rural areas are well catered for and work should start in spring 2025. So that is good news.

At a meeting of the Devon Rail Forum I was pleased to hear that passenger numbers on both South West and Great Western Railway have increased and that our own local Tarka Line had 800k passenger journeys, an increase of 50k journeys over the year.

There are also plans to introduce a loop near Umberleigh which will mean even more trains coming down from Barnstaple to Exeter.

It seems that Exeter College has set up a training programme for apprentice railway workers.

Our Highways contract was discussed at Cabinet and it was decided to opt for a term maintenance contract which is rather similar to what we have already but it will be supported by other contracts to other businesses.

My scrutiny committee has been promised sight of any potential agreements which they can then question before recommending the Cabinet.

The contract needs to be signed in March 2027 so we still have over two years to go, but officers tell us that these complicated contracts take a lot of discussion and analysis.

My scrutiny committee is also looking at Connecting Devon and Somerset.

This is the rollout of the fast broadband which, it was hoped, will be finished this year but it seems now that the target has moved to 2030.

However it does seem that they are putting in a concerted effort to bring all the rural areas into the fold.

If you are interested in this I suggest you go onto the Devon County Council website, look at the agenda for the November 28 meeting of the corporate infrastructure and regulatory scrutiny committee where you will be able to read a fairly detailed report.

I do hope you are checking up on the grit bins in your area because we nearly got caught out recently, fortunately all grit bins in my area were fairly full but are now depleted. There you are, your task for the month!

Cllr Frank Letch MBE