IT seems to me that there are two very distinct roles to being a councillor.

The first is to represent the people of my division by listening to their problems, complaints and observations and acting to resolve them.

This I do by meeting people casually in the street, in the shops and also by holding surgeries in Crediton, Copplestone and Bow.

I also receive a lot of correspondence through emails and always ask people to include my right to forward on their missive.

I also get telephone calls but much prefer people to then reiterate their point in an email as I then have a written record and something that I can pass on to the correct officer.

As you all know my contact details are easily available.

The other side of the role is to attend meetings where we learn a lot of information, which we can pass on and also question a lot of the decisions made by the executive.

I have been to several very interesting meetings recently.

Two of them concerned the railway. We are lucky in Crediton to now have a half hourly service to Exeter and £18,000 has been spent on our station.

Passenger numbers on the Tarka line are up to 800,000, an increase of 50 per cent.

The railway company is also looking at the impact of crossing the railway lines for those with mobility challenges.

They are also thinking of a way of increasing the number of disabled parking spaces on the south side of the station which at the moment only has one.

I was quite surprised in another railway meeting to learn that a cow on the line near Cullompton cost 800 minutes of disrupted services and 13 cancelled trains.

It seems that trespassing on railway lines is a frequent and costly event.

On a positive note 40 train drivers are being trained along with 60 other railway staff and there is to be an upgrade of rolling stock on our line but no date as yet.

At a health care meeting I was pleased to note that people in Mid Devon live on average just over one year longer than the rest of Devon and Devonians live a year longer than the national average.

We also have a lower percentage of drug-related deaths at just 22 in Mid Devon. But even in this we cannot take much comfort. Mid Devon's suicide rate is easily the lowest in the county.

I attended the first Cabinet meeting under the new leadership.

The most interesting item was the launch of the corporate plan 2024/25.

There are five proposed corporate priorities in the action plan.

1. Secure better outcomes for our children through working with key partners.

2. Develop an investment plan for our road network. I'm sure we all look forward to that!

3. Improving and modernising our processes through digital solutions. I'm not sure that I understand that.

4. Working with citizens - 2024/25 focus on highways and transport. This may well tie into option number two.

5. Building relationships with partners to facilitate improved and targeted community services.

These are clearly noble aims and I am sure that the relevant scrutiny committees will keep an eye on the executive's progress.

County Councillor Frank Letch MBE

Crediton Rural