The rumour exchange

Tim Padfield writes, Friday, 9 July 2010

Tim Padfield, the manager of your village website, tries to keep a low profile and let the site develop its own personality through contributions by the villagers. A recently overheard comment by a villager "Is it true that 60 houses are going to be built on the village green?" does point up the need for a website which performs as a 'fact exchange' as well as an opinion forum. I hope readers make use of the open nature of this website: mostly writable by anyone, to clarify issues as well as to make their opinion known.

In this particular case, the facts are these: the Parish Council Clerk has forwarded to Devon County Council a petition requesting the registration of the village green, the grassy area around the ford, as common land, open for the relaxation of villagers in perpetuity. A positive result is expected - but is several months away. The sixty houses is the number allotted to Harbertonford by South Hams Council, which identifies the derelict mill and the field north of the filling station as suitable sites. The period for formal representations about this has now passed. However, the proposal is still subject to a hearing by a government inspector in the autumn and several villagers have signalled their intention to give verbal comments at this event. So please write to the website, your comments can still be used.

To anticipate another item ripe for the rumour mill: the Parish Council has received from Colin Finch an offer to lease to the PC land for allotments on the first field on the right up Hernaford Road. The allotment society has judged the land agriculturally acceptable but wants to have changed some details of the offer which would as presently formulated undoubtedly lead to more vehicle traffic on Hernaford Road and consequent disturbance of neighbours. The society has also expressed its intention to ensure a pleasant outlook from the windows of the immediately adjacent house, which overlook the field. These are reasonable and soluble concerns. However, there is talk of the allotments offer being a preliminary maneuver to facilitate building houses on the field. The proponents of this argument present no evidence for this, and current plans for releasing land for building around Harbertonford are directed elsewhere, as described above. One has to speculate that the opponents of the allotments in this field are really trying a variety of arguments to ensure that nothing at all happens in their quiet neighbourhood. The website is available for discussion about this matter. Facts are always welcome but opinions are not discouraged.

Status of the mill ruin

At the recent meeting about planned new houses for Harbertonford many people expressed a wish to see the mill developed as housing and/or workshops. The response of Bridget Green of South Hams District Council was that nothing could be done because the owner could not be contacted. His name is known and he is probably findable. A likely reason for non-response is that the buildings will eventually decay so much that demolition followed by house building would be more profitable than renovating the derelict structure. The conservation office at SHDC has been told by several people that the roof is leaking. However, this grade 2 listed building is not on the SHDC register of buildings at risk. It should be. A further relevant point is that, regardless of the SHDC designation of the mill as scheduled for housing development, there is no compulsion for owners to develop the site, or to sell it for development. I urge everyone interested in keeping Harbertonford interesting, with buildings from several centuries, to pressure the District Council to use its power to force the repair and re-use of old buildings.

tim padfield, Saturday, 5 June 2010

Parking for the shop

The Parish Council will, on Tuesday 8 June debate a letter from Jerry Mulrine about extra parking space in the ford area. It could be an ingenious way to improve access to the shop without impinging on the green open space, but we don't know. It would be good if Mr Mulrine, or the PC could reveal the plan before the PC meeting. Maybe right here on the opinion page.

tim padfield, Thursday, 3 June 2010

--i have lived in harbertonford for 40+ years and have seen may changes but a carport on the village green has to be the worse idea i have ever heard the man has lost his mind and the ludicroius idea of spoiling our green which after all why were called a ford, i hope the councill will see these remarks not only from me but from people whom i have stayed good friends with have expressed there dismay at such greed to line his own pockets going on facebook i have in 2 days-accumulated a number of people (60) who have lived in the village in the past have also dismayed that there village green could be lost by a carpark on and around-i have heard that you as parish councillors have asked for the village green in to our herritage many thanks for reading this and hope that some one could e mail me or write me a letter to explain your actions in full many thanks again.
alison.hack@yahoo.co.uk or 1 youldons close

Whilst our family are newcomers to the village and perhaps don't have the same knowledge of the issues involved as many who read this page, I do feel that the above (very public) comments are rather disingenuous to the owner of what is one of the few (and may well get fewer) businesses that remain in this lovely village. I think that Jerry's shop provides a much needed and nowadays very rare asset to Harbertonford and if he has something to say or propose that would enable him to continue to exist here then he should be heard in a fair way rather than being shot down with very few people actually hearing, first-hand, what he is talking about. Anyone who thinks that running the Post Office and shop are somehow a gold mine, or a good way to make a quick profit must be living in a different country to the one I live in. I can think of very few villages that have either a decent shop or a Post Office these days, not just in the South Hams but throughout the country. If Mr Mulrine says that making the shop work as a business is difficult, I for one believe him. My family and I regularly use Jerry's as we don't always want to drive to Totnes to get last minute supplies, if for lack of customers, the shop was to close I think it would be a great detriment to the village, particularly as it seems likely that the garage may also close if the new houses get the go ahead.

The plans for parking spaces on the green might be too radical, after all who really wants to lose a green space, but my limited understanding of this issue is that Jerry was trying to find alternative public spaces to compensate for this. Whether this would have worked is questionable but I feel that he deserves support in his efforts to make things work or at the very least to be heard in an open discussion rather than being vilified as some 'Robber Baron' type. I therefore second Mr Padfield's opinion above that it would have been a great benefit to see what he was proposing, and what his issues are here on the website so that anyone can be free to input and perhaps it is possible to come up with a workable solution that benefits the shop, the pub and the village as a whole.

Jonty Rose - School House, 11th July 2010

Village survey

Geoff Broom has compiled the results of the December 2009 survey of the concerns, opinions and proposals of those villagers who responded to the questionnaire. We owe a big thankyou to Geoff for his hard work.

Village survey (pdf)

Use this page to add further comments.

Older stuff

About the pedestrian crossing

Put your own ideas here. Add to the top of the list so the most recent ideas are shown first.

Tim Padfield writes:

The layout of the village is such that a single crossing point will not give convenient walking routes for villagers, thus encouraging crossing at unauthorised places. The 'natural' solution is a very wide crossing stretching from the pub to the start of Morleigh road.

There is surely a limit to how wide a standard zebra crossing may be. In which case lights may be necessary. Or maybe one can designate a pedestrian priority stretch of the main road (and all the other roads in the village!).

See: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/feb/29/guardiancolumnists

The sketch shows suggested stop lights at points north and south of the bridge, so people can cross from Old Road towards Morleigh Rd, or towards Woodlands Road, taking a natural route rather than the long detour past the pub.

A summary of the meeting at the school, 2 May

Peter Beamish presented the statistics from his survey of opinion. All respondents agreed that the present crossing is dangerous, but opinions were divided on how to improve it. Opinion was equally divided for and against a light controlled crossing. There was a majority in favour of traffic calming, but not much unanimity on how to achieve this. Moving the crossing was debated, with a suggestion to move it a few metres north. A 20 mph speed limit was briefly discussed. The overwhelming tone of the debate was that traffic is too fast to react in time to people crossing, so it must be slowed, somehow.

Flood defence

from Graham (living just above the old flood belt!)

Thanks for the opportunity to comment on the flood defence works at Harbertonford. I live in the village and have watched with interest the creation of the dam and flood meadow behind.

The objectives do not seem to be very clear to me. If the plan was to create a wetland why plant so many trees around the fringes? As they grow they will only draw water from the ground and also shed leaves into the pools, making them acidic and biodiversity poor. For breeding birds the encroachment of tree will only make the site less attractive. The bench and viewpoint was a nice touch, but there are also many trees planted in front of it. Within a few years there will be no view of the wetland. It is also not at all clear if there is a good flow of water through to the pools. If they rely on rain and flood events to replenish them they will again be less rich. There is a longer term issue of coarse vegetation overwhelming the marshland without grazing. Very light cattle grazing would be the best bet, perhaps only 2-4 on the ground between April and September.

In summary: 1. Too many trees - the usual outcome if landscape architects and designers are used. The only way to create a good wetland is to ensure that it is pre-eminent in design terms - I would remove 80% of the trees. 2. Ensure a flow of water through the pools 3. Introduce some light grazing.

Sorry, but these small areas of habitat need on-going management to maximise their value. Is there no continuing management plan?

What were the objectives for the project, on top of the flood relief issue? Reed bed, fen vegetation, breeding birds, amenity?

If the works were driven by ecology then the objectives needed to be much clearer. If driven by amenity, why allow trees to be planted in front of the view?

I know this is only a very small scale local project but it does make me wonder if the Environment Agency really understands how to deliver its conservation remit. I think you can do better for biodiversity at a local level

Access to Harbertonford Dam

28.06.06

I have now completed my internal research on the flood defence scheme. I am sorry to say that one of the conditions of the purchase, from the Palmer family was that the wetlands did NOT have open access. This was not made clear in my research of the scheme from published literature. I apologise if I got your hopes up about access.

The reason for restricting acess to the dam is a very simple one in this day and age, any accidents or incidents arising from public acess to the dam area would render the E.A liable in law. Also on the subject of the 20mph limit, the police are correct in stating that it is unenforcable, this is due to the fact that automobile speedometers work on an exponential scale of accuracy and are not reliable much below 30mph. The "myth" of the dam sluices being manually adjusted in their first emergency use is no myth at all, as I was there, i can tell you that the telemetry link was not working and the keyholder was on holiday. make of that what you will. George Waite engineer and original flood defence comittee member.

It was thought that the there would be too many safety issues, to open a footpath through the area. In periods of heavy rainfall the wetlands have the potential to become almost totally flooded. This could catch people unawares, and has the potential for disaster. The dam workings are also dangerous. It was thought that dogs may disturb the wild animals and that fowling may become a problem. Finally access to the site via the narrow lane from the village was a potential problem.

The only members of the village who do have OFFICIAL access to the dam, are the school children, as an organised party. If the school wants to visit the site they need to get in contact with the agency. They require a SAFETY INFORMATION PACK that will include information on flood risks and protocol around the dam workings.

The compromise made by the environment agency was the seating area, which has been provided for you, this was designed to give people a view of the site but not to venture inside. I am not sure who is responsible for maintenance, but they are probably based in the Regional office in Exeter. It is a real shame that the village is not allowed accses as it seems the wetlands would be well used.

This is the contact details for the area of the environment agency that is responsible for the dam:

REGIONAL OFFICE

Environment Agency, South West Region, Manley House, Kestrel Way, Exeter, EX2 7LQ, 01392444000

Environment Agency general enquiry line: 08459333111

I am very thankful to Tim Padfield for the pictures that he has sent me. It seems that the wildflowers and grasses are enjoying their new habitat. Maybe nature is best left alone as it seems to be thriving in the wetland area.

I would also like to thank all those people who have e-mailed pictures and given comments.

Rosemary

Tim Padfield responds (Tuesday, 27 June 2006):

It's nice of you to ask, Rosemary, and it's encouraging to see our local information exchange beginning to come to life.

Firstly, since you are in Bristol, I have put some pictures of the dam and its floodplain on the History page. (Ask if you want higher resolution versions for your own use.) Some of my concerns, as well as my enjoyment of the area, are explained on that illustrated page, but I briefly repeat them here, and add other matters.

It would be nice to have a weatherproof explanation of the purpose of the dam, the wildlife of its flood plain and its management plan. There is some maintenance of the site but the bench is being rapidly engulfed by vegetation. A nature reserve that is merely wasteland and trees left to itself will show a wondrous diversity of life to start with but will become duller with time as dominant species take over, probably willow and alder on that damp ground. It would be good if the environmental agency would reveal their management plan, or make one. The cheapest and maybe the most useful way of publishing it would be right here on the village website. it costs nothing.

As for the reasons for excluding people from entering the area, they illustrate the continuing infantilisation of the population. The suggestion that access via a narrow lane is problematic is particularly batty. This is one of the wider roads in the South Hams. It is used mostly by people walking dogs, joggers and rare cyclists. Sure we have to flatten ourselves into the stinging nettles to let the cars zoom by but that is all part of the envied Devon way of life.

As for whether the flood control works: an amazing number of villagers (about twenty) tramped up the road with umbrellas after one very heavy rainstorm and were rewarded with the sight of the partly flooded reservoir and water bursting out from under the sluice gates. There was muttering about how the environment people in yellow jackets had to come to lever open the gates that were not responding to digital instructions, but that is maybe just a rural myth - I leave further comment to others...

Safer cycling to Totnes

Update, June 2009: It is a real pleasure to announce that there is now a continuous pedestrian way between the Ashprington turn and Kingsbridge Hill on the approach to Totnes. It is narrow in places but a bicycle can be walked down, and maybe ridden, though that is doubtfully legal.

Tim Padfield has written to the Devon County Council, suggesting that the county highway authority make a cycle track from the junction of the Ashprington road with the Totnes western bypass A381 to the junction with Kingsbridge Hill. Click the link for more about this.

What can we do about the vandalism of our bus shelter?

Provide more activities for young people.

Did you wonder what happened about the proposed 20 m.p.h. limit for Harbertonford? It seems the police objected that it would be unenforceable, so it was dropped. This information is from John Halliday, at the April Parish council meeting.

I have lost count of the number of times that a vehicle coming from the Kingsbridge direction has come round the bend and swept across the zebra crossing while I am actually on it. On the last occasion, it was in right front of a police car which had stopped from the Totnes direction! If we can't have a 20mph limit, can we please have better signage of the zebra crossing - the existing sign is almost invisible.