THIS month has sped by and already we are looking towards winter! It is pleasing to note however that there has been a lot of work on our roads patching, filling potholes and white lining.

This is probably the result of the £12 million that Cabinet gave to highways so that they could concentrate on the smaller roads.

It has necessitated several diversions which did not please everybody; such is the world you cannot please all the people all the time.

I have had complaints of litter around the bus stop near the surgery in Joseph Locke Way.

I have asked Mid Devon District Council if they can put up a waste bin but the problem is the road is unadopted and we need to find out who owns what.It seems to be between Network Rail and Tesco.

However, the Head of Service has assured me that the Street Scene group will pay regular visits to that area and collect what litter there is.

I am sure people will now realise that we are to have a zebra crossing from Hawkins Way area to the Leisure Centre and Lidl.

This was one of the conditions laid out by planning so that the developers are actually responsible for the cost.

Yet again we have had people complaining that it's in the wrong place etc.

The problem with that area is there are just so many junctions going to the industrial estate, the Post Office and leisure centre.

The proposed site is a compromise which would mean that pedestrians have a safe way of getting from one side of the road to the other in order to visit the leisure centre or the supermarket.

At my scrutiny committee meeting this week we proposed that street lighting times should be decreased in order to save money and protect the environment.It will also protect some wildlife.

The times will change in two areas, namely towns and the rural area. The city will remain the same. If these changes are implemented it will probably save the county about £6 million.

You will probably be aware that over the years I have raised the problem of our children's services. The special educational needs and disabilities budget is severely overspent.

Officers have been addressing the problem and their efforts will be scrutinised in the next two weeks by a full OFSTED inspection.

Early in the month I visited Devon County Council's Materials Laboratory.

This is where samples are taken of roadwork repairs, major road construction, pedestrian areas such as pavements and shopping malls and materials used.

After any fatal collision, officers from the laboratory take core samples in order to assess any impact the road may have had on the collision.

In order to fully understand the condition of the road they take core borings which can go down to 60 to 80cm.

Cllr Frank Letch MBE

Devon County Councillor for Crediton Rural