Transport and Highways
The bus service is not greatly used. Over 100 people use it for shopping or social purposes, mostly occasionally, 14 often use it to go to work. Most people rate the bus service as reasonable to poor for route and timetable and reasonable for reliability and cost.
There were many concerns expressed in respect of cars speeding through the village, 474 (60%), and it was a major issue on the back pages. In particular Fore Street was identified as being in need of immediate traffic calming. One way systems and extending the speed limit to Eastdown were also supported. Within the questionnaire there is a measure of support for 11 of the suggested solutions.
The standard of street lighting is thought to be reasonable by 424 respondents (59%) and good by 224 (31%). Only 10% considered it poor.
A lot of people, 431 (65%), thought that additional pavements were needed. School Lane, 344 (80%), and Eastdown to Hartland, 323 (76%), would be the most popular places. This concern may in some way be connected with the speeding problem.
Local Government
Some of the back page comments cannot be published due to their libellous nature in respect of the perceived behaviour of some councillors!
What becomes apparent from reading the answers to the questionnaire and the back pages is that there is a worrying degree of ignorance in the way Local Government works; in particular the Planning process and Housing allocation.
The Parish Council is felt to poorly publicise its decisions by 354 people (44%) and knowledge of how the Parish Council precept is spent is hazy for 414 (52%). Higher Council Tax to meet the needs of the village would be paid by 258 people whilst 364 would not.
Local Economy and Tourism
"Keep the village as it is" was often on the back page but it was difficult to give this view a lot of substance when the respondent requested a swimming pool/leisure centre/supermarket etc. inside the questionnaire.
The availability of more jobs was thought to be needed by 85% (678 people) mostly in agriculture and forestry (40%). Teleworking was third with 14%. The trend towards IT continues.
General
Voluntary work is undertaken by 161 people which confirms the widely held view that this is still a community which gives more than it takes.
Most people would like to see the village develop as a balanced community (517 people) with a 'working community' and 'staying as it is' mentioned by 366 and 209 people respectively. The back pages expressed the concern that the development of large estates could turn the community into a retirement village or one where new tenants found difficulty living in a rural community after a lifetime in urban surroundings.
Employment
The employment statistics are interesting because they give a good picture of the way the community works.
| Employed | 198 | 26% |
| Self-employed | 177 | 23% |
| Unemployed | 19 | 3% |
| F/T education | 70 | 9% - includes 11-18 age group |
| Wholly retired | 194 | 26% |
| Unwaged | 57 | 8% |
| Perm sick/disabled | 22 | 3% |
| Other | 16 | 3% |
Most people have been in their current job for more than five years. Those seeking paid work number 47. The reason for people turning down job opportunities are varied with the biggest problem being the lack of transport. There are a high number of wholly retired and self-employed people in the village.
Businesses are run by 171 people who employ a further 139 people. Most of the businesses are in agriculture.
A number of people would like to become self-employed. There are a variety of restrictions but the main one is lack of start up finance.
