South Hams District Council has published an update on the 2026 Business Rate Revaluation which you can read here.
Owners of businesses in coastal communities that have been affected by recent storm damage, and businesses in the wider parish area that may be affected by the closure of the A379 road, should contact the Business Rates team at South Hams District Council to see if they are eligible for a discount on their business rates.
The Slapton Line Partnership met last week to hear situation reports from the statutory authorities and pleas for assistance from representatives of the affected communities in and around Start Bay. The minutes of the meeting have just been published and you can read them here.
Devon County engineers made an extraordinary discovery as they excavated the collapsed culvert in central Kingsbridge this week: several feet under the tarmac at the junction of Fore Street and Bridge Street they found what appears to be the original King’s Bridge over the brook that ran into the estuary, and from which the town took its name. The full story is here: TM kingsbridge leaflet 3 UPDATED POST TM CALL 260226.
Draft minutes of February’s Full Council meeting are now published and available here.
This excellent piece from the University of Plymouth’s Coastal Processes Research Group details the latest thinking on the impact of coastal erosion on Start Bay.
Your local Neighbourhood Policing Team for Kingsbridge, Salcombe and the surrounding area will be at The Start Bay Inn, Torcross, at 11:30 am on Monday 23rd February. Please come along and take this opportunity to raise any concerns you may have and to find out what we are doing to tackle the issues that matter to you.
Everyone is welcome and it would be great to see you there. For more information please contact me – PCSO Tom – via this Community Messaging or via the front office in Kingsbridge.
If there are any other people you would like to invite to the Community Messaging, please advise them on how to join using this link to the website: https://community-messaging.dc.police.uk
The agenda for next Thursday’s full council meeting is now published and available on the website.
Many Start Bay residents will be aware of an organisation called the Slapton Line Partnership. Others, who perhaps haven’t been in the area for so long, might not have heard of it. So as part of our continuing efforts to provide readers with the background to help them understand where we find ourselves, and how we got here, this 5-minute primer will explain who and what the SLP is and what it does.
The Slapton Line Partnership was formed in 2001 to:
The Partnership is made up of staff and officers from Devon County Council, South Hams District Council, South Devon National Landscapes Unit, Field Studies Council, Wild Planet Trust, Natural England, and the Environment Agency, together with elected representatives from Devon County, South Hams, and the three parish councils that surround Start Bay: Strete, Slapton, and Stokenham.
The most recent coastal management strategy for the Slapton Line was adopted on 3rd November, 2023. The Partnership meets throughout the year to develop the strategy and the associated adaptation planning.
Parishioners will be pleased to learn that works to repair the pedestrian footway and bridge from Helmers Estate to the Park and Chillington Village Hall, delayed for weeks because of bad weather, will commence on 18 February (weather permitting!) We anticipate that the work should take no longer than a week to complete, barring any unforeseen events.