MILTON DAMEREL & ABBOTS BICKINGTON
COMMUNITY APPRAISAL REPORT 1999
RESULTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
THE PARISH SPEAKS - Church and Chapel
Importance of Church and Chapel
42 people thought that the Church bells should be restored and 29 considered that the Chapel kitchen should be improved.
"Proper organ for the Church"
"The restoration of the bells is a good idea"
"The seats are too hard"
"Having a Church and Chapel splits the community"
"It would be rather nice if there were signposts to indicate where the church and chapel are"
THE PARISH SPEAKS - Footpaths
Maps of public footpaths and bridleways
"Footpaths from Venn Green to Horrells Ford would be a good idea for safety"
"Attitude of land owners"
THE PARISH SPEAKS - Transport & Highways
Vehicles per households
The bus service
The main concern with the bus service was to see an improvement in the timetable.
"Too many people ignore 40 mph. Signs"
"40 m.p.h. sign too small and too far apart"
"Lack of public transport a problem when you have doctors/hospital appointments to keep"
Recommendation:
Need to ascertain how bus services should be improved at Village Appraisal Meeting and these recommendations should then be passed on to Devon County Council.
Road safety
‘Danger Spots’ Places identified to be dangerous by more than one respondent were:
|
Whitebeare Cross |
Corner opposite Littlejohns Cottage |
|
Chapmans Green |
Worden Corner |
|
Holsworthy Beacon junction and Beech Park |
Crossways |
|
Woodford Bridge Hotel |
Waldon Hill |
|
Gidcott Cross Road to Five Lanes. |
Venn Green - suggestion that double white lines are required. |
Recommendation:
Devon County Council should be informed of these results.
THE PARISH SPEAKS - Employment
Employment status
|
Employed |
105 |
35% |
|
Self-employed |
60 |
20% |
|
Unemployed |
4 |
1% |
|
F/T Education |
21 |
7% |
|
Wholly Retired |
62 |
21% |
|
Unwaged |
27 |
10% |
|
Perm.Sick/Disabled |
11 |
4% |
|
Other |
7 |
2% |
Jobs in the parish
Main Place of Work/Study
|
At home |
82 |
37% |
|
Elsewhere in parish |
32 |
14% |
|
Within 10 miles |
51 |
23% |
|
11 – 30 miles |
47 |
21% |
|
Over 30 miles |
10 |
4% |
"More organic farming"
"The position of any proposed units would be crucial - should be adjoining main road
General Comments
"There are no facilities for young children i.e. playground - meaning 3 mile drive to Holsworthy"
"Another exhibition of the history and archaeology of Milton Damerel"
"The ‘parish’ is not a helpful body for provisions of all services as the parish is so widely distributed"
"More co-operation between parish councils to enable facilities to be more greatly utilised"
"Bus shelter needs doing up"
"A pub please!"
"Restaurant with home cooking/art gallery"
Conclusion
We hope you have all enjoyed reading this report and will attend a meeting to be held in the near future.
Remember the Parish Council will only be able to implement the recommendations in this Appraisal with the help and co-operation of all parishioners, local organisations and statutory agencies.
We would like to thank Mike Knight and the Community Council of Devon for their guidance and help, Devon County Council for printing and analysing the questionnaire and printing this report and acknowledge financial support from the European 5b fund, Devon County Council, Torridge District Council and the Community Council of Devon.