Foundation laid for the vision to shape the future of Torridge

No doubt plans for Christmas and time off over the holidays are the things everyone has been talking about and concentrating on this week.

If you do happen to be reading this column, maybe you’re one of the lucky ones that already has everything sorted! In the meantime, many of us will be rushing around last minute trying to summon up a last burst of energy to finish the preparations.

At Full Council last week, councillors were busy making their own preparations for other key events in our calendar and a few that are due to play an important role in our progress over the next few years.

A couple of key decisions were needed to form the foundation blocks for further work and these included the adoption of the council’s 2024-2029 strategic plan and the formation of a Torridge Place Board.

Work on the plan began back in August with initial workshops that almost all councillors attended. The plan sets out the councils’ priorities over the next five years under four main headings: the Local Economy, Communities Heath and Housing, the Environment and Council services.

Since August, the plan has been refined and added to, including the incorporation of ideas and endorsement of the plan as a whole through a public consultation that ran for six weeks.

As you would expect, issues such as the availability of affordable housing were a key topic both for councillors and residents.

A resurrected railway line between Bideford and Barnstaple was also high on the list of comments received.

The strategy is more about the overall vision for the area rather than individual actions and the hard work now comes in starting to prepare business plans and projects for next year that will deliver on those ambitions.

The adoption of the strategy will also help us shape our proposals to share with government, with Torridge having been selected along with 20 other councils for a share of £400m allocated to the Levelling Up policy initiative.

With that in mind, the other important decision taken was the agreement for the makeup of a Torridge Place Board to ensure we have deliverable proposals to secure as big a share as possible of the available funding.

The board brings together multiple stakeholders including councillors and representatives from businesses, education, health, housing, the voluntary sector, transport, and our member of parliament.

The board will not only add value to selecting priorities but also monitor progress, provide support and advice, and ensure all views across the community are represented.

There are already several key projects underway including the Clean Maritime Centre at Appledore for which we have already received £15.6 million in levelling up funding.

So the opportunities for the area are huge and this new set up should help provide a pivotal link between all the parties involved and points to exciting times ahead.

With all the Christmas light switch-ons and festive decorations being put out by our towns and villages there’s plenty of reasons to venture out and about and support our local retailers in the run up to Christmas.

The whole area is starting to sparkle, which is exactly how the renovated Market House in Great Torrington was looking in last week’s news update and a perfect backdrop to the pannier market beyond.

Supporting local retailers is hopefully on everybody’s shopping list once again this Christmas. I also appreciate that for some the outlook may be less fortunate so I would remind everyone that help and support is still available on our website.

Finally a thank you to all our staff working over the holidays and all of you working shifts in hospitals or other jobs and professions - have an enjoyable Christmas and I’ll catch up with you all again in the new year.