OCTOBER has been a quiet month with few meetings of interest, all the important things coming towards the end of the month.The main event of course will be the budget!

Upon this statement much will depend for councils at all three levels. We know that with the budget there will be winners and losers and some whose situations will hardly change.

There is no doubt that there will be a big impact on employers and all our councils are employees of varying numbers.

We are talking hundreds even thousands! So an increase in employer's National Insurance contributions could well have an impact on the council tax bills that we pay.

The other big event of October or perhaps November will be the publishing of the recent OFSTED inspection of the county's children's services.

When the first full OFSTED was published the service was deemed very poor and put into special measures.

There have been many changes and improvements but whether this will be enough to put the service into “requires improvement” we hope to learn soon.

Although you might think that children's services does not have much impact upon you in fact it is a huge budget that is much larger than highways for instance!

As I travel around my division I'm still really disappointed in the white lining that has not yet taken place.

I keep pressing my highways officer but he is constrained by his budget and staff availability.

To me the most important thing is safety and there are areas where no white lining or arrows could easily lead to a very serious crash. I shall keep pushing and hope for the best.

One shining light in the month was my Mid Devon District Council Chairman's civic service.

This year I held it in Tiverton and as my central theme chose Devon Young Carers.

I first came across this group at the beginning of the year when I attended a meeting along with the Duchess of Edinburgh. A dozen or so youngsters were telling me what they have to do to care for members of the family.

One even had to give her younger sister insulin injections once-a-day! What a responsibility!

We had a wonderful presentation from an officer from Devon Young Carers who informed us that there were well over 2,000 youngsters registered between the ages of four and 18!

Yes that is right FOUR years old is our youngest registered carer. This is a little lad who, when his mother collapsed with an epileptic fit, was able to dial 999 and raised the alarm.

He had been taught this by his mum and grandma.

We are soon to have November 5 with all that means! Please be careful when you let off fireworks and remember to do so at sensible times.

Those of you who have pets take precautions and make sure they are indoors and well protected from any unexpected bangs in the night.

Cllr Frank Letch MBE

Crediton Rural

Devon County Council