ANNUAL REPORT 2010- 2011 COUNCILLOR GLYN DOBSON - MAYOR OF OTTERY ST MARY As I look back over the last twelve months I realise what a tremendous amount of hard work has been put in by all at the Town Council, and to this end would like to thank all Councillors for their hard work and support. Special thanks to my Deputy Mayor Councillor Ian Holmes for his dedication and hard work, also Town Clerk Judith Reynolds and Deputy Town Clerk Su Graham. COUNCIL OFFICES The Council have now been in their new office for 14 months and there has been a marked increase in enquiries from the residents of the Parish owing to the easy accessibility to the office. This in turn has enabled us to give a better service to residents. We have been fortunate in letting nearly all the offices which has gone a long way to meet the loan repayments on the building. COUNCILLORS Being a Councillor gets increasingly more difficult and time consuming each year and inevitably there are changes. This year has been no exception with the resignations of Vanessa Hudson, Heather Talbot, Joy Richardson and Tony Howard. My sincere thanks to all of them for their hard work and contribution to the Parish. New Councillors include Councillor Laitinen, Councillor Talbot and Councillor Pang and I look forward to working with them all. Currently we have one vacancy for the North Ward that includes Alfington, Taleford, Escot, Gosford, Thorne and Fenny Bridges .Hopefully this vacancy will be filled in the near future. Councillors Glyn Dobson, George Hansford & Ian Holmes The Council has always realised this was a project that would take a long time and a lot of hard work to achieve. We have made considerable progress this year. Special thanks to Councillor Ian Holmes and Councillor George Hansford for the many hours of work they have put in assisting me to get to the stage we are at now. You may have noticed a new road has been built and we are most grateful Devon County Council for the financial support given to achieve this. The whole area has been fenced in and land drainage installed. The next stage is to re- seed all of the field. When completed this will be a tremendous facility for the Parish that will be owned by the Parish. This project is still very much alive with all funds now in place. One of the conditions of funding is that work must be started by March 2011.This will be a great asset to the Town providing a much needed Footpath/Cycle route between the Land of Canaan Car Park and the Hospital, Kings School and Thorne Farm Way Councillor Peter Williams PLANNING This year was exceptionally busy with 159 applications being dealt with by the Planning Committee and to date we have received 125 Decisions of these only 8 failed to agree with East Devon District Council. This reflects the dedication given to all applications and the professionalism of the Planning Chairman Councillor Peter Williams Mrs Phyllis Baxter TOURIST INFORMATION CENTRE 2009/2010 The Tourist Information Centre remains to be a very active part of the community. During the year we had about 12000 visitors and of these 70% were local residents proving what a useful facility this is for local people. Phyllis continues to do an excellent job in the centre and has produced a new Town Guide that is well worth a read. I make no apologies for once again thanking all Councillors, Town Clerk and Deputy Town Clerk for without their hard work and support I would find the position of Mayor impossible. Their dedication is a credit to the Parish. If there is anyone who would be interested in joining the Council please contact me at the Council Offices where I would be happy to have an informal discussion.
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Councillor G C Dobson ..
Mayor of Ottery St Mary