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Green Spaces Management Plan

Sticklepath Highways and Green Spaces Management Plan

Area	Description	Key aims
1	Bus stops and School area	To keep bus stops clear
2	Common wall and path
3	Verges and gates	Weed around gates, tend planter, path clear
4	Ladywell	Tend plants and weed edges
5	St Mary’s	Path clear
6	Chapel / Chantry	Path clear
7	Devonshire Inn	Path clear, bus stop clear
8	Finch	Path clear
9	Zeal Head junction	Bridge wall and kerbs, signpost area
10	Oakdene/Copse area	Drains, paths and kerbs
11	Bridge	Weed walls
12	Main road	Walls and kerbs
13	Oak Tree cul de sac	Kerbs and paths
14	Millennium seating/green	Weed walls and tend plants
15	Oak Tree Park road	Path clear and kerbs
16	Lower Willey Lane	Path clear and kerbs, verges clear
17	Upper Willey Lane	Drains clear, walls clear. Check overhanging trees
18	Back Lane	Drains clear
19	Tudor cottage / Devvy car park	Path clear and kerbs
20	Village Hall	Walls and kerbs, rear of the hall
21	Bowdens to corner	Path clear and kerbs

Following public consultation, the Parish Council has agreed a Plan to manage the public areas including highways, kerbs and green spaces.

The Parish Council has accepted an agreement with Devon County Council within which we take some more control of the condition of the roads, pathways, verges and public spaces. Within this, we have appointed a Road Warden who will work with volunteers and with support of the Parish Council.

The consultation created interest both in maintaining a tidiness which has diminished over some time as Devon County Council and West Devon Borough Council have needed to prioritise other areas of public expenditure. It is also important to intervene in the condition of roads and pavements to prevent more costly deterioration and/or impact on users.

The consultation also recommended that the Parish Council no longer used herbicides for weed control in public places, and that they contracted for verge cutting to enable some protection for wild flowers and biodiversity.

This new approach could not be achieved without the commitment that many showed within the consultation. In essence, it is anticipated that residents will volunteer to physically look after those patches of pavement and kerbs close to their own properties, and/or other patches for which they take an interest to help others. We are building on wonderful community involvement including to the Village Days, StOc, St Mary’s, Big Breakfasts etc.

The Road Warden will recruit a specific group of volunteers who will be trained and supported to take on more significant tasks e.g. smaller pot hole filling. He is the effective liaison with Devon County Council and will report larger problems on the highways for professional repairs, significant drainage issues, overhanging hedging, trees by the highway affected by disease etc.

Weeds on paths and kerbsides appear and grow in their own ways, and we hope that villagers will notice improvements in the village during this approach, but that they will act in their own time to remove them as they would in their own properties. Every little contribution helps.

The Road Warden will collaborate with the Parish Council in arranging 2 Village WorkDays # each year, in early Spring and Summer. These will include the work on Sticklepath Moor, but these will also focus on specific tasks tending the Green Spaces and patches. We hope that this will sustain the community spirit we already have in Sticklepath – the village will look a better, and the Parish Council will provide some refreshments during the day.

This is the Plan so far, but it will evolve as villagers shape their Green and Public Spaces. We would like to encourage all initiatives that improve our village; its environment and ecology.

Lead Parish Councillor Derek Moore

Road Warden Jake Powell

February 2023

# This year the WorkDays are fixed for Saturday 25^th February and the Coronation Public Service Day on Monday 8^th May