Parish Council
Sticklepath Road Warden’s Report Annual Parish Meeting May 22nd 2024
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those individuals who have supported me in my role as Road Warden for the village over the last year.
As most of you will be aware, we are facing a crisis on our roads and there is significant financial pressure being put on all sectors of local council funding. The consequence is that Devon Highways have to cope with limited resources to make sure our roads are safe for everyone. So, I volunteered about a year ago to give some of my time to you as a village to do my bit to try to make our highways safe, clean and tidy. I have taken the first level of DCC training for the role, but would need to spend a couple of days training if there was a plan for volunteers to fill potholes ourselves
My role is simple. I identify potential problems with our roads and drainage and I convey them to Highways; if you spot a possible road defect then you have the option of filling in an online form or informing me and I will make sure the Highways team are made aware. I am able to speed up the process by identifying problems, and it helps Highways to resource the problems properly in a reasonable time frame. It, therefore, saves money, time and effort and it allows for a more efficient response to an ever increasing problem which is maintaining our roads.
I would like to take this opportunity to send out a personal thankyou to Josh Scillitoe from Highways. He has done an incredible job, given the resources which are available to him. We have built an incredible working relationship and we have had more work completed than most villages at this difficult time.
I am grateful too to those of you who have helped to minimize the disruption caused by the weather which we have to endure in our Parish over the last year. An example was during Storm Henk (in January), a tree fell onto the main road up by Higher Combeshead House. With your help, it took an hour to clear the felled tree on the main road. This would not have been possible without the help provided by parishioners themselves. I was able to contact Highways and they were able to provide an immediate response.
I huge thank you too to the ‘Road Sweeper team’ who been been in the village multiple times and continue to do battle with the ever increasing build up of leaves and debris on our road sides and in the drains, particularly during the Autumn and Winter months.
I am also very grateful for all the hard work of villagers keeping the haunches on Willey Lane clean and tidy. Drainage problems and the condition of the Lane there will continue to be a problem which DCC cannot prioritize, even with additional funding they have received.
The Parish Council organises 2 Village Workdays each year to give residents the chance to care of Sticklepath Moor and to tidy the village naturally. It has been so good to see volunteers and families clearing weeds from the pavements, verges and the Millenium seat. It also means that we aren’t having to use herbicides.
I am looking forward to continue to work with villagers together to continue this good work into the future.
Cllr Jake Powell