Devon County Council have asked for the name of town councillors who would be willing to act as snow wardens – whatever they are.

Apparently people are unwilling to clear the snow off the pavements because they’re afraid of being sued . What absolute baloney!

You’re only likely to be sued if you’ve been negligent or have done something wilful which would be likely to cause injury. Of course I am not a lawyer, but my feeling is that failing to clear the snow/ice from the pavement in front of your premises is negligent. Clearing it is the sensible and public spirited thing to do.

Now matter what Nigel Farage might think, this is an area in which large parts of Europe are far more civilised than the UK.

For example, in Germany it’s a legal requirement for home owners/shop keepers etc. to clear snow and leaves from the pavement in front of their premises.

Not a great deal of debate about this planning application although it had been discussed at the previous SMTC meeting at the end of October. Councillors had also a meeting with the District Council’s Lead Planning Officer.  (I’ve made various objections to the application which can be seen here.)

Unfortunately I couldn’t be at that October SMTC meeting, and its minutes haven’t yet been published, so I don’t know what was decided then.  But as far as I can tell the developer has agreed to put up four bungalows, change the layout of one road a bit, and put in a layby somewhere.  Not exactly a victory for local residents, but better than nothing.

The saving grace is that the developers will have to make a substantial contribution to  the development of new primary school facilities in South Molton, and, hopefully, they will have to make a contribution to improve the bus service between the town and Barnstaple.

We shall see.

An item on the agenda about new cycle stands for the town centre – something I’ve been pushing for. Apparently six stands would only cost about £500. The issue was where to put them.

The pannier market was suggested as the most suitable place until it was eventually pointed out they couldn’t be used when the market was operating i.e.  just when they might be most needed .

I’m not quite sure exactly what was resolved, but I’ll be sending an email to the Town Clerk with a few suggestions.

Lengthy debate at Tuesday’s SMTC meeting about the scaffolding on the Town Hall.

The repair works, and more particularly the repainting, can only be done when the temperature is above five degrees centigrade and when it’s relatively dry.  Therefore the works won’t be starting until some time in the spring.

The question was: Should the scaffolding come down for the interim and be put up again or simply left in place?  Unfortunately the Town Clerk didn’t know how much this  would cost compared to the cost of leaving it up. (Surely this is basic information that should have been researched before the meeting?)

After lengthy debate, and much eyebrow raising from the members of the public, one of the councillors pointed out that the scaffolding was there for ‘health and safety’ reasons and would therefore have to stay up! End of debate.

The only thing that was decided was ‘that it might be a good idea to strip the old paint off before the spring’ and the architect would be asked about this.

I went to the Town Council meeting on Tuesday evening (11 November) and was just dropping off, when I was woken by the Mayor frantically banging his gavel.

That’s gavel as in one of those little hammers that judges are supposed to use (although in fact in the UK they don’t!) rather than The Gavel as in the place.

Perhaps the Mayor’s use of the gavel showed his displeasure! But about what? Answers on a postcard please.

I wasn’t at home for Halloween as Alison and I  were on holiday in Spain visiting an old friend.  On our return it bought a smile to my face when I saw this small carved pumpkin that somebody had very kindly put on top of our gatepost.

For the curious, yes they do celebrate Halloween in Spain – or least some of the youngsters do. But it feels somewhat different when you can sit outside in shirtsleeves eating delicious tapas and drinking una copa vino tinto,

The Youth Resource Centre will definitely close on 7 November as Devon County Council has virtually stopped providing youth services.  The only youth centre in North Devon funded by the county council will be in Barnstaple.

Ownership of the youth centre will transfer to the town as they own the land on which it was built. If agreement can be reached the YMCA will probably take over the running of the youth centre as a resource for the whole community – not just young people.

Running costs of the centre, even if it doesn’t open its doors, are in the order of £10,000 a year. A cost to the town, or rather a cost to the town’s rate payers!  Well done Devon County Council, well done central government!

That’s Schubert the Sheep sitting in the pulpit on the left – he’s the mascot of the Two Moors Festival (2MF). The photograph was taken on Saturday night in Exeter cathedral at a superb 2MF concert where I was helping out as an usher,  ticket collector and general factotum. Apologies for the scaffolding in the background, but if you’re from South Molton you’ll be very used to scaffolding!

The concert consisted of some Sibelius, a Bruch violin concerto and Beethoven’s Eroica symphony, featuring Polish violinist, Agata Szymczewska, , the Orchestra of the Swan, and the young Israeli conductor Gad Kadosh.

The Two Moors Festival  is held every October and features a variety of concerts and events which are held across Devon. For details of the current programme and the story behind the festival have a look at their website or their blog.  For the Twitterati amongst you look for #2mf.

I know that many people aren’t ‘into’ classical music, but take a look at the programme on their website. You might be surprised at the choice on offer (or that was on offer!).

Catching the bus to Exeter on Saturday afternoon I was glad (or should that be sad?) to see that student behaviour hasn’t changed a great deal since I was at university. The statue of General Sir Redvers Buller at the junction of Hele Road and New North Road had three strategically placed traffic cones on it. Perhaps they’re a semi-permanent feature as Google Streetview also shows them?

If it hadn’t been for the cones I wouldn’t have known who the statue was of, or its history. So some good has come out of a student prank.

I’m not sure how many people have noticed that the small clock tower on top of the Guildhall has a distinct list to it.

Apparently there’s a plumb bob fixed inside so that it can be seen if the tilt is getting worse. Let’s just hope that someone looks at it on a regular basis – and by regular I mean every month or so and not every ten or twenty years!