Boundary Commission Review

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Boundary Commission Consultation

Constituencies are changing – have your say now via bcereviews.org.uk, or at a public hearing in your region.

The Boundary Commission for England (BCE) is required by Parliament to undertake an independent and impartial review of all constituencies in England. This is done to rebalance the number of electors in each constituency.

The 2023 Boundary Review also requires that the number of constituencies in England increases from 533 to 543.

The Commission is holding a secondary consultation on its initial proposals for new constituencies, which takes place from 22 February to 4 April 2022.

During the consultation, public hearings will be held across the country to allow members of the public to provide their views in person.

To have your say, submit your views in writing via the consultation website bcereviews.org.uk, by email, or letter; or speak at a public hearing in your region.

Find your nearest hearing and book a slot to speak at bit.ly/ bcepublichearings.

On the consultation website, you can also view and take into account the responses sent in during the first consultation.

A Guide to Flood Safety and Resilience

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A guide to flood safety prepared by Comparethemarket.com has been added to our useful links page

Survey Results (Wilding, Tree Planting and Cemetery Extension)

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Mary Tavy Parish Councillors thank all those who attended the drop-in meeting on Saturday 20th November and all those who took the time to complete the survey forms. The survey forms were attached to the flyers that advertised the meeting and so were received by almost every property in the parish.

Approximately 400 flyers and survey forms were distributed but only 45 survey forms were returned; in electoral terms a “turnout” of only around 11%.

3 questions were asked in the survey, requesting a response on wilding in the parish, tree planting in the parish and the need for an extension to the current cemetery. While parish councillors still need to examine the detail of the answers, we can report the responses to the main questions. The responses were as follows:

 

1/. Wilding: Do you think the sowing seeds of native wild flower in selected areas of the parish is a good idea? Answers were:

YES: 37                 NO: 6                    NO OPINION:  2

 

2/. Tree Planting: Do you think the planting of native species of trees in the parish is a good idea? Answers were:

YES:  39                NO:  4                   NO OPINION: 1

 

3/. Cemetery Extension: The existing cemetery is getting full. If suitable land can be found, should parish funds be spent on an extension? Answers were:

YES:  30                NO:  8                   NO OPINION:  7

 

The results of the survey and future actions will be discussed at the next meeting of the Parish Council. This will be on Tuesday 14th December at the Reading Rooms, beginning at 7.00pm.

Road Safety and Speed Limits Near the Mary Tavy Inn

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Many people consider the junction at the Mary Tavy Inn to be very dangerous and that a 40 mph speed limit from the “Welcome to Mary Tavy” signs to the current 30mph limit is justified. Mary Tavy Parish Council has asked on many occasions that a 40mph limit is put in place but, to date, the authorities do not consider this stretch of road merits such a limit. The Parish Council would like to compile a diary of accidents and near misses over several months to get a clearer picture of the problem and, if appropriate, use this to argue for road safety improvements.

We welcome reports of accidents and near misses around the A386/Lane Head junction (adjacent to the Mary Tavy Inn) so that as complete a listing of incidents as possible can be compiled. Please send details of such incidents (time, date, nature of the accident or incident, weather conditions, type of vehicle(s) involved) to the Parish Clerk at . For data protection purposes you should not record or send registration plate or photographic details.

Hedges and Ditches in the Parish

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Now that the bird nesting season is over, August is a good time to tidy and cut back hedges where needed and to clear ditches ahead of autumn and winter rains.

Parishioners are reminded that it is generally the landowner’s responsibility to keep hedges cut back and ditches clear of debris and blockages. Guidance issued by Devon County Council can be found here (ditches) and here (hedges) and in the attachments below

Mary Tavy Post Office & Stores: Goodbye and thank you, Martin, Tracey & Jack

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After 8 years, Martin, Tracey and Jack have decided to move on. Their last day will be on Tuesday 11th May and the changeover to the new owners (Sean and Diana Bos) will be on Wednesday 12th May.

The Parish Council wishes Martin, Tracey and Jack all the best for the future and would like to thank them for all the hard work and dedication during their time in the village. They have been a real asset to the parish and the efforts they made to make life easier for people during the pandemic have been simply outstanding. We hope they enjoy some rest & relaxation before setting out on their next challenge.
A brief, Covid-secure presentation of a gift hamper from the Parish Council took place on Sunday 9th.

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West Devon Housing Strategy 2021 – 2026

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West Devon Borough Council is seeking views and input from the public concerning their housing strategy for 2021 to 2026. Click here for further information and here to access the online survey.

Update from the Mary Tavy Parish Council Working Group on Speeding and Road Safety

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A working group of parish councillors was formed in August 2019 to address concerns about traffic speeds through the village and the impact this has on road safety. Following a number of meetings of the Group, a public meeting was held on the 26th November 2019.

3 main topics were addressed at the public meeting:

  • The establishment of village gateways
  • Upgrading our current Vehicle Activated Signs (VAS) to units that record data. The data could, in principle, help the Parish Council, the police and Devon County Council Highways Department (DCCH) focus their resources on improving road safety in the parish.
  • Restarting a Speedwatch initiative.

While it was made clear that DCCH and the police do not currently accept 3rd party data from VAS, it was felt by many at the meeting that the possible upgrading of the signs should be investigated further.

Shortly after the meeting, the council received data from DCCH from a speed recorder they had installed for about a week in the village (we believe this was located at the current VAS position adjacent to the Down’s garage site). The results from this DCCH survey were:

  • 50% of vehicles using the A386 were travelling at speeds of 28.5mph or less. This is the 50th percentile value.
  • 85% of vehicles were travelling at speeds of 33.4mph or less. This is the 85th percentile value.

Based on these results, DCCH advised the council that they did not consider speeds to be high enough to merit any further road safety improvements.

Many councillors and parishioners were surprised at the low values measured by DCCH and the decision was made to hire a speed recording device to gather our own data. We used the device over an approximate 3 week period in late January and early February 2020 at 4 locations on the A386 in the village. Interestingly, analysis of the data gave results not greatly dissimilar to those from DCCH:

50th percentile value              85th percentile value

DCCH data                                                                                         28.5 mph                                 33.4 mph

Our data (same camera position as DCCH)                                29.0 mph                                 35.0 mph

Our data (combined from 3 camera locations)                          30.5 mph                                 36.25 mph

 

It should be noted that these results were obtained before the Covid-19 restrictions markedly affected traffic volumes. One thing we will need to bear in mind is how traffic volumes and driver behaviour may be different when restrictions are lifted.

There will be a debate on whether the parish council should proceed with upgraded VAS or keep the existing signs when council meetings are able to reconvene after restrictions imposed by the Covid-19 virus are lifted. In the meantime, opinions and suggestions from parishioners are welcome and will help steer the debate and decision making. Please contact the Clerk of the Council, using the contact form on the website or email (), or Councillor Nick Butland (Chair of the Speeding Working Group) at if you would like to make your views known.

The attached documents contain a much more detailed report on use of the speed recorder and a series of charts and tables; these will give interested parties a better view of progress to date.

 

 

 

 

Update on Speeding Problems on the A386 Through Mary Tavy

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Those of you that attended the public meeting held on the 26th November or anyone who read the report of the meeting might be wondering what’s happening so here is a brief update:

There was a lot of interest at the meeting in replacing our old 30mph “Slow Down” warning signs (know as Vehicle Advisory Signs or VAS) with new signs that recorded data such as time, traffic flow and vehicle speeds – this despite feedback from the police and DCC Highways that they don’t accept 3rd party data. Shortly after the meeting we got some data from DCC Highways from a covert radar device they had set up in the village for a week (the Parish Council wasn’t informed they’d done this until after the event but we think the device was fixed to the VAS post near Down’s Garage). We found the Highways’ results somewhat surprising as they showed a mean speed of around 28mph and an 85%ile speed of around 33mph (the 85%ile is the speed value that 85% of traffic is at or below…i.e. only 15% of traffic is doing more than 33mph).

We (the Parish Council) thought these figures were lower than many people believe are the real vehicle speeds but we are conscious that if we went ahead and spent a significant proportion of the parish budget on new VAS signs and then found the Highways figures were true, we could be seen to have wasted the money. In light of this we decided to gather some of our own information by renting a radar device. We started taking measurements on the 16th January and finished today (7th Feb). The device (called a Speedspy) gathered data 24 hours a day from 4 positions on the A386 in the village. We decided not to advertise the fact the unit was here until the data collection was finished so that it didn’t affect people’s driving habits.

We should have the data back from the Speedspy in a couple of weeks. Once it’s been analysed, we feel we will be better placed to decide whether we should spend part of the parish council budget on new VAS signs.

We’ll keep everyone updated on progress as and when we can.

What To Do In An Emergency

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Here is a copy of the Mary Tavy Parish Council Emergency Plan. As well as containing information on what the Parish Council should do in the event of an emergency it contains, in Annex A, contact details for all Mary Tavy councillors and for the Emergency Warden / Snow Warden. The plan was agreed by the Parish Council in May 2018 and modified in December 2019 to include up to date contact information.

You can also download the document “some useful emergency contact details” which may be of help in an emergency. The details are correct as of December 2019

Let’s hope neither document is ever needed, but we trust they will be of some use should an emergency arise.