THE vice-chairman of Sandford Parish Council took the chair for the June meeting of the council and one of his first tasks was to accept the resignation of Councillor Mike Snow.

He paid tribute to him for all of his contributions to the Parish Council, especially to the play area committee.

The Casual Vacancy will now be advertised and if 10 Parishioners request one, a formal Election will take place. If not, the Parish Council will ask anyone interested in filling the vacancy.

Pothole Petition – As this had not attracted as many signatures as hoped for it was agreed to extend the deadline for another month.

Crediton residents Anne Stobart had proposed a “Crediton Area Local Tree Warden Network” and it was understood Crediton Town Council were in the process of arranging a meeting “with interested parties” to take this forward.

Pamela Tilney Ellis had sent a request for lines to be painted (white) on the edge of the footpath in the Square to assist wheelchair users.

She also offered to cover the costs.

Devon County Councillor, Mrs Margaret Squires, agreed to follow up this request with Steve Tucker of DCC Highways department.

Mid Devon District Council - It was understood that MDDC had called an “Urgent Meeting” to discuss current boundary issue problems at “Crofts”.

Devon County Council – Cllr Mrs Squires advised that John Hart (Leader of DCC) was standing down. His replacement would be Cllr James McInnes (Hatherleigh and Chagford).  She also advised that “free bus shelters” were currently available.

D-DAY 80 plans for the Beacon Lighting were well in-hand and the forecast sounded promising. It was envisaged that this event would be funded from the “Crossing” donation of £400 (band and community bus).

Any other expenditure would be covered by the funding that was available from Parish Council funds for this event.

Finances  - It  was agreed to accept the recommendation to pay £350 for the update of the Parish Council website update by Vision ICT Ltd.

It was also agreed to obtain a gov.uk email address for all Parish Councillors at a yearly cost of £20 per councillor.

The next meeting of the Parish Council is on July 4 at 7.30pm at the Sports Pavilion.

At this meeting there will be no paper Agenda, Cllr Paul Sandys has offered to project the agenda on to the venue wall for future meetings.

The Parish Council then goes into summer recess until September 5 and will only meet during that time to deal with any urgent business e.g. planning applications.

MJV