Town Clerk Chronicles: Tidying the roadside verges has been a big hit

January seemed a particularly long and challenging month for many and there’s always a little spring in the step when February comes along.

Event-wise, it is traditionally a quiet month for us and a welcome respite to the hurly-burly of December. Behind the scenes though, it’s business as usual at the Council, with our regular schedule of town council and committee meetings.

The most important decision in January is agreeing the budget for the next financial year. The town council is required by law to prepare a budget to calculate its precept requirement.

The budget must give details of planned expenditure for the financial year, ensuring that financial resources are aligned to the priorities of the council.

The town council provides local services for Barnstaple residents as your first tier of local government, and owns and manages a wide range of facilities and services on behalf of the community.

This includes grants to voluntary organisations, community and heritage activities, the Guildhall, community buildings, maintaining open spaces, Rock Park, the playground and football pitches.

A precept of £1,364,646 was approved, which is the equivalent of a £193.98 per annum, a 40p per week increase for a band D property.

This is collected as part of your council tax. A full list of the activities and details of the budget are available on our website.

Over the recent weeks you may well has seen members of the Town Ranger team maintaining the roadside hedges and vegetation from Eastern Avenue, Barbican Road and Alexandra Road and around the Bus Station and TA roundabouts.

This is a responsibility that the town council took from Devon County Council about eight years ago and will continue to undertake, both for the safety of road users and to maintain the appearance of the town.

A local resident contacted us this week to say ‘The central reservation and areas along and around the inner relief road are fantastic now that BTC rangers have trimmed and tended them. Thank you!’

In fact, a number of residents commented that driving became easier with clearer sight lines and we were pleased to be able to help with this work. Well done our Rangers.

Hopefully you will have seen that the work has now started on the Guildhall external renovation, there was plenty of coverage in the local media last week.

The Guildhall’s external appearance has worsened over the years, and we’re delighted that grants are allowing us to help restore it to its former glory. The BBC did a piece on Spotlight, which was a welcome opportunity for us to raise the profile of the town to the wider South West public.

The work will restore the façade of this historic building. It’s the third Guildhall Barnstaple has had in its history, with construction completed during the reign of George IV in the 1820s.

It was designed by local architect Thomas Lee, shortly after he had finished work on Arlington Court.

That brings us up to date for now, I’ll catch up with you all again soon.