22nd October 2024
Shortacross bus shelter idea rebuffed
ANY Morval Parish Council spending plans or talk of potential housing developments in the area are, quite understandably, items of major interest for parishioners.
But there are always plenty of other topics discussed at the Council’s monthly meetings on which councillors are also actively campaigning.
Sadly, though, those other more mundane items… such as the pavement towards Trenode School, a bus shelter at Shortacross, getting WiFi to the Village Hall, the defibrillator at Sandplace (and what to do with the other redundant telephone box at Shortacross, Widegates), road signs that need repairing and the lack of SpeedWatch volunteers endangering the future of that community service… are often not enough to rouse parishioners from their daily cornflakes.
But they are, nevertheless, important to the well-being of Morval Parish.
Here’s a rundown on just some of the topics raised by your council recently:
HOPES of providing some sort of bus shelter on the new Cornwall Council-provided bus stop area at Shortacross, Widegates (serving buses travelling from the Looe direction towards Hessenford) have been dashed by ‘red tape’.
Former Parish Council chairman, Cllr John Kitson, had offered to provide, free of charge, a wooden shelter with a bench at the Lydcott Lane junction but Cornwall Council have said that a detailed design would need to be drawn up and submitted for approval.
County added that, even if approved, the works could only be carried out by an accredited contractor who held a Streetworks licence.
The Parish Council, desperately disappointed at Cornwall Council’s response to a free, community-spirited offer, have asked County Councillor Armand Toms to speak to the county officers to see if there were any alternative.
Cllr Kitson said this his offer stood but it was now “clearly in the hands of the Highways Gods”.
FOLLOWING reports of a faulty door on the Parish Council paid-for defibrillator in the old telephone box at Sandplace, councillors called on the maintenance company, Duchy Defibrillators, to investigate.
They sent out a service engineer and have since reported that everything is in order and the potentially life-saving equipment is again ready to use in an emergency.
COUNCILLOR Toni Patterson reported that the one-way sign on the ‘cut through’ between the B3253 Hessenford-Looe road and the A387 main route through Widegates village had been damaged and would probably need repairing.
Parish Council Clerk Laura Storey took up the matter with Cornwall Highways the very next morning and later received a reply from County saying that the necessary works had been carried out and the reported issue made safe.
COUNCIL chairman Cllr Andy Jackson again raised the matter of overgrown verges on the path leading towards Trenode School where, not for the first time, the vegetation growth was encroaching on the pavement area and overhanging.
Clerk Laura Storey was asked to contact Cornwall Cornwall and she was later told by Highways Manager Will Glassup: “I will certainly keep it on the list for mechanical siding works, should funding become available.
“I am sorry I cannot give you a definitive answer, we simply do not have the funding to undertake operations such as this.”
But he added: “I have asked the area steward to log the area for vegetation cutting.”
THANKS to some financial support from Cornwall Councillor Armand Toms, the Village Hall/Reading Room at Widegates now has WiFi.
Cllr Toms said he was delighted to support the Village Hall committee using funds from his councillor’s Community Grant pot, and he believed that the WiFi facility would a great addition to the hall’s facilities.
MORE SpeedWatch volunteers are needed in the Looe and Liskeard areas, both of which cover parts of Morval Parish.
Wringworthy resident Chris Gilbert is the organiser of the Looe group, covering sites in Looe, Pelynt and Polruan, and he told the council that (in similar with his colleagues in the Morval SpeedWatch team, who are part of the Liskeard group) more volunteers were needed to keep this worthwhile initiative on the road.
“We had someone recently recorded at 68-mph in the 40-zone by Looe Bay holiday park,” said Chris.
SpeedWatch has many advantages. Although those motorists detected breaking the speed limit cannot be prosecuted, unless a member of the Devon and Cornwall Constabulary is in attendance (and more often than not the Police do support these volunteer sessions), drivers caught ignoring local speed limits are sent warning letters and, if too many of these ‘polite reminders’ drop through the letterbox, fines and licence endorsements are likely follow.
If Police Officers are in attendance at local SpeedWatch sessions, then the price of breaking the speed limits, or other motoring offences (mobile phone use and the like) is also, inevitably, prosecution and fines.
But the other positive influence of SpeedWatch volunteer sessions is that these help build a picture of motoring behaviour and those statistics can lead to local authorities reducing speed limits or introducing speed calming measures – something that Morval Parish Council has long campaigned for in respect of the A387 main road through Widegates village and onwards to Morval.
In Widegates village, the issue of speeding vehicles will have even more of an impact once the proposed Play Park at Farriers Way becomes a reality later this year.
Anyone who would like to join the SpeedWatch volunteers (and without more helpers the scheme will surely fail) can visit:https://roadsafety.devon-cornwall.police.uk/community-speed-watch-csw/how-to-join-an-existing-community-speed-watch-group/
The Looe group co-ordinator is Chris Gilbert (cjgilbert@ymail.com), of Wringworthy, and the Liskeard (Widegates) co-ordinator is Derris Watson (07817 180 203), both of whom will be only too happy to provide more details. Parish Council clerk Laura Storey (clerk@morvalparishcouncil.org.uk) can also be of assistance.
THE thorny issue of what to do with the redundant telephone kiosk at Shortacross, Widegates, was again raised.
Previous Council debates had considered selling off the box, although no-one had expressed an interest in buying it.
The door of the kiosk was damaged in last winter’s storms and was removed from the site by Council chairman Cllr Andy Jackson.
Council vice-chairman Cllr John Collings said that in its present state the kiosk, now owned by the Parish Council, was an eyesore, although he accepted that some people used it as a refuge from bad weather while waiting for buses on the Hessenford to Looe route.
Clerk Laura Storey said that she had previous experience of disposing of redundant telephone boxes and, in fact, was still waiting for a reply to a similar query raised by another of her parish councils.
It was suggested that members of the public might like to volunteer to ‘spruce up’ the kiosk to make it look less of an eyesore (the Council could provide the paint and the like) and Cllr Toni Patterson wondered whether it was a project in which Looe Shedders might be interested.
Members agreed to ask for the public’s views, while awaiting the response to the clerk’s own enquiries.
Cornwall Planners have approved Melanie McGregor’s application to join a small cottage and large barn together to create a single L-shaped residential house (in keeping with its previous use in the past) at Manor Cottage, Wringworthy.
The building is on the site of the former holiday accommodation complex.
Also approved was Mr M Shailer’s first-floor extension over a garage at 6, Farriers Way, Widegates, to provide extra accommodation.
THE next meeting of Morval Parish Council takes place at the Village Hall, Widegates at 7.00 pm on Wednesday, November 6.
The agenda will be published in due course.
Members of the public are invited to attend and while they cannot take part in the actual meeting itself, they can address councillors during the Public Participation session in the first 15 minutes of the meeting.
Each speaker gets a maximum of five minutes, although more can be allocated at the chairman’s discretion.
The official agenda for the monthly meetings always invites ‘members of the public to address the meeting in relation to the business to be carried out at the meeting’ but, in reality, almost anything topic can be raised.
Speakers do not have to give the chairman or the clerk pre-warning of what they will mention – although, as ever, prior notice can be useful if a satisfactory outcome is to be swiftly achieved.
Anyone interested in speaking is asked to notify the Clerk, Laura Storey (clerk@morvalparishcouncil.org.uk) beforehand as a matter of courtesy.