Archive for category: News

The Civil Contingencies Act 2004 creates an obligation on Local Authorities to prepare a contingency plan for self-help in case of emergency, and parish councils are encouraged to formulate their own emergency plan. Stokenham Parish Council Emergency Plan has been prepared to assist residents of the parish to cope in the event of an emergency or other unforeseen situation that results in the disruption of normal day-to-day life in and across the area. Click here to see the latest version of the Emergency Plan.

The plan is, by its nature, generic, and most of the advice is generalised and what you might regard as “common sense.” In light of recent increasing storm threats to our community, however, much more specific plans are currently being worked up to deal with the eventuality that we might need to evacuate residents of our coastal villages in an emergency. Public consultations are already underway and experts from the emergency services and the Regional Flood and Coastal Committee will be meeting throughout the summer in order to have these plans in place in good time for next autumn’s storm season.

One of the key takeaway from the Emergency Plan is that on no account should residents take any action that would put themselves or others at risk. If you become aware of any situation where you think the Parish Emergency Plan needs to be invoked, you should in the first instance contact the Parish Clerk, clerk@stokenham-pc.gov.uk, telephone 01548 581185, or failing that, any parish councillor.

The Cornelius Fund has served the local community for over 20 years, helping local people with their housing needs.

We offer grants to help with first month’s rent and deposit, flooring and white goods to those who find it impossible to save, faced with ever increasing costs.

To remain operational, the charity’s committee is in desperate need of a Secretary and a Treasurer.

Given the current levels of activity, neither need be more than a few voluntary hours per month, but without them Cornelius is at risk of closure, it would be really sad if the area were to lose the unique service we offer.

The Secretary role: Monitoring and managing email traffic, good IT/Media skills to maintain/improve the Cornelius profile in the modern environment.

The Treasurer role: Operation of internet banking and the ability to produce year end accounts to satisfy Charity Commission regulations.

If you think you might be able to help, please contact us, by email initially, by 22 May, on thecorneliusfund@gmail.com.

Many will have already heard the good news on funding for improvements to the sea defences at Torcross, but it’s worth repeating the announcement here for those who haven’t yet seen it:

The Environment Agency Business Case and funding of £19.8m have been approved for the proposed rock armour scheme in front of the Torcross sea defences.

This is a critical first step but delivering this project within 2026 remains a very considerable challenge. The Environment Agency and our contractors are working at pace on design, sourcing materials, and securing the necessary consents, licences and permissions – each of which could affect delivery.

Our priority remains reducing the risk of damage to homes and businesses in Torcross as soon as possible. The approved project is to mitigate for beach loss by installing rock armour from the access steps at the south end of the beach, to the slipway at the northern end.

Discussions with Devon County Council and South Hams District Council are continuing regarding the Torcross car park and road beyond the slipway. Together with Devon County Council and South Hams District Council, we are planning a joint public event before the summer holidays when we expect to have a clearer idea of how the project is progressing and be able to provide more details.

The Slapton Line Partnership continues to work together across Start Bay to help manage coastal change and encourage adaptative planning for the future.

The Slapton Line Partnership Inland Roads working group is tasked with identifying and bringing about improvements to the back roads network that is providing traffic relief following the interruption to the A379 Slapton Line. This work focuses principally on increasing the number, usability, and visibility of passing places on the routes north out of Stokenham, Slapton and Strete, together with strategies to discourage visitor traffic from using anything other than the main roads via Totnes Cross for access, which includes liaison with the main SatNav data providers.

Minutes of the most recent Inland Roads working group meeting, held on 6 May, are available here.

Draft minutes of April’s Full Council meeting of Stokenham Parish Council are now published and available here.