CCG votes to close Torrington Community Hospital beds. This does NOT mean that the hospital will close. It will just lose its inpatient beds.

I received an e-mail today from the YMCA which read as follows:

“Update on Former DCC South Molton Youth Centre

I promised you I would keep you up to date with new developments around YMCA Exeter’s plan to take on the DCC Youth Centre in South Molton which has now been shut. Perhaps predictably, it has been quite a tricky process, with many legal and financial issues to address on top of the actual mechanics of how to make the centre financially viable. I am not in a position yet to give you any definite news, but there has been significant progress, so I thought I ought to update you.

South Molton has been by far the most straightforward of the three centres YMCA is looking at, and I am particularly grateful to Andrew Coates of the Town Council, as well as the town councillors themselves, for their unstinting support and practical assistance. County Councillor Jeremy Yabsley and the Town Council have also been generous with financial support to enable us to do all that is needed to change the centre into one that can be used by the wider community as well as young people.

This morning I submitted a bid to DCC for funding to enable us to “bridge the gap” between taking on the centre and building up enough rental bookings to make it financially viable, and provided that bid is granted, we can move rapidly with the legal processes.

Thanks to the pragmatic attitude of all parties, we seem to have dealt with the major legal issues that could have made our plans and hopes impossible, and the survey has not reported any major issues with the building (as you would hope, given that it is only a few years old).

All being well, we can proceed rapidly. The YMCA Exeter Board of trustees met last night and have given our plans their full backing.”

So well done Andrew Coates (deputy Town Clerk),  South Molton Town Council and Jeremy Yabsley (our County Councillor) – and of course the YMCA for being prepared to run a facility which Devon County Council decided to close!

Why is it that, despite being so enormous, superstores actually seem to stock a very small range of items?

All I wanted was something to clean the black mould off the sealant in a shower room. I would have thought that my mother’s local B&Q (larger than Mole Valley Farmers) would have had several varieties of products for sale. Not a chance  – they just had one and that was sold out! Why is it that so many chain stores don’t seem to be able to implement a proper stock control and reordering system. With modern IT and logistics systems there should be no excuse for running out of anything.

Similarly I went into the mega Asda just opposite the B&Q to buy some shoe polish. I expected to see racks and racks of the stuff in different colours and from different suppliers.

Again not a chance! The (somewhat fuzzy) picture above shows the entire stock of shoe related items in a store the size of the central car park in South Molton. If you want shoe polish, the second shelf down is it! Kiwi in either black or neutral.

Am I the only person who hates self-service checkouts?

As far as I can tell they’re only there to cut the retailers’ costs.

Quite apart from the iconic ‘unexpected item in the bagging area’ they frequently:

• fail to recognise notes;
• fail to accept old fashioned money at all;
• fail to scan correctly;
• require the intervention of a human assistant

In short they don’t work as well as they should and are one of the many reasons I don’t like supermarkets.

It appears that even without opening a store in South Molton, Tesco are intent on taking business away from our local shops.

Mind you, as far as I can tell, it only runs once a week on Monday’s – it leaves South Molton at 10:40 and returns at 13:30.

I saw this HGV parked outside Shapland & Searle early on Monday morning. No driver in sight –  I doubt very much that he was delivering polycarbonate sheets to anywhere in Broad Street.

This is probably why so much of our seafood gets exported to Spain!

Why do we eat so little seafood in Devon?

I think that the Town Council, or at least certain members of the Town Council, need to be reminded that the law states that the meetings of the council, its committees and sub-committees are open to the public and the press.

There are very few, clearly laid down exceptions to this. It’s also the law that members of the public are allowed to record (either audio or video), and broadcast, any meetings which they are allowed to attend. For example, if somebody from, say Clapham, wanted to attend a SMTC meeting and video it, they would have a legal right to do so.

As for standing up: I believe we should all stand up for our rights, and this doesn’t extend to having to stand up when addressing a town council.

Members of Parliament might well stand up when addressing that body, but that’s largely a matter of common sense.

With a large meeting it’s very sensible for the person talking to stand up – purely so that other people can see who’s talking and so that the voice projects better, and nowadays, so that the TV camera can focus on the right person.

People don’t stand up in Devon County Council cabinet meetings nor in the District Council executive meetings.

The important thing is that people can have their say, Public bodies at every level should do their utmost to ensure that this happens – even if they’re uncomfortable with it.

Let’s not forget that on the current South Molton Town Council there’s only one councillor who’s had any votes cast for them – Cllr Tracey Lewis – all the others are there by default.

I don’t disrespect councillors, or what they do – far from it.  I know that it’s a very,very difficult, complex, time consuming job, and, contrary to public opinion, town councillors get paid nothing at all.

But they mustn’t forget why they are there – and that’s to represent the public!

Devon County Council (DCC)  had originally pledged about £150,000 to help tide the closing youth centres over the transition period from being run by DCC to being run by other organisations.

Only about eight or nine thousand pounds of this would have been allocated to the South Molton Youth Centre but it now appears that DCC have reneged on their promise and will be providing nada, nil, nothing, zilch.

Being a techie, I watched the live webcast of the Devon County Council (DCC) Cabinet on Wednesday morning  – and was delighted that they approved the release of funds to purchase land at Exeter Gate to enable a new primary school to be built. Or, more accurately, to enable the Junior School to be relocated and expanded into a ‘through’ primary school, with both infant and junior provision.

What concerns me is that the whole process isn’t yet a done deal.  The purchase needs to be completed by the end of November to ensure that the school is actually built.

I think DCC have been disturbingly slow on the uptake, and the landowner’s agents have been somewhat greedy – a couple of acres on the edge of South Molton is worth nothing like the same area in Exeter.