In November 2021, Crediton Town Council became the first in Devon to be awarded the Quality Gold Award for good practice in governance, community engagement, and council improvement.

This is still proudly displayed on the Council's website. My understanding is that the award is valid for four years. 

Does the Council intend to reapply and, if so, what level of award does it realistically expect to achieve now?

There is a public perception that the Council spends a lot of time dealing with processes and procedures rather than issues directly affecting the town itself, something which is difficult to dispute.

When I looked more closely at the 43 or so published Council policies, I found that only 5 are currently up to date.  Of the remainder, 15 were due for review earlier this year, 19 were due in 2024, and 3 were due in 2023.  One policy has no review date at all.

How has the Council allowed this to happen?

Looking at the Council’s own published budgets, last year around £280,000 was allocated just for running the Council - staffing, administration, and office costs. That’s about 57 pence in every pound collected from residents through the precept.

This year, that figure has risen to around £320,000, or roughly 63 pence in every pound, meaning nearly two-thirds of what residents pay now goes on running the Council itself.

 Taking into account the additional spending on legal and audit work and the debts that have been written off partly because of “officer time,” it’s fair to say that around a penny in every pound of this year’s precept has effectively been lost to avoidable issues.

 Given this, how can the Council justify devoting so much of its budget to internal matters rather than to delivering visible improvements and services for the people of Crediton?

Overall the council are proud to be able to deliver what it does for the money spent and are acutely conscious that the money comes directly from the residents who pay council tax. The balance between whether to spend or not to spend, and indeed what to spend it on is key, and part of the budget setting process, an area where we are keen to gather views of residents. The office team is constantly balancing competing priorities, and maintaining professionalism and a strong work ethic under these circumstances—where resources such as staff time and budget are limited - this requires making difficult decisions at times. The services for Crediton are not just events, flowers and allotment provision but the daily face to face contact with members of the public resolving their concerns and queries, regardless of whether it is a matter for the Town Council, Mid Devon or Devon. The staff work to serve Crediton daily, whether it be face to face, by telephone, by email or letter - Crediton has highly dedicated officers delivering for Crediton. Being such a small team has its advantages but also it is not realistic to expect them to be experts in all matters and so professional support and advice is sometimes required - that should not be seen as a failing but as a positive where it is recognised that there is not the level of skills and knowledge within the team. Only recently in reaction to the Library not being able to open its doors on a Monday the Town Clerk engaged with Devon County Council and Libraries Unlimited to broker an arrangement that enables the library to be open on a Monday prior to it being brought to Full Council as a question from a member of the public. Some examples of other activities keeping the staff fully engaged in 2025 include:

The council has recently vacated the offices at 8a North Street and are in the process of making 6 North Street a home for the council for the future - there are costs, both financial and staff resource associated with the move that are being incurred this year, some of which we were aware of, others not. We are anticipating that 26/27 will see an element of stability, certainly in respect to the move to 6 North Street.

Looking at services, included in the £320k is the bulk of the costs associated in delivering the youth provision where funding has been withdrawn by Devon County Council. This is not an ideal arrangement but one where we believe that it is right to work with others to deliver a provision for Crediton youth.

As a council we are supporting the community wherever possible, including the renewal of the defibrillators around the town, as well as looking to build the relationship with Dokkum and Fulda as well as the Community Grants made to local clubs, groups, societies etc help foster the identity that is Crediton - the strength of the community - part of the £320k is incurred in administering those grants too.

You mention "avoidable issues", but these audits are part of a formal process governed by The Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 and the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015. These audits are a welcome review of the council's activities and we regularly learn from them. Part of the legal costs incurred include fees for the legal work required to securing the lease on 6 North Street. Thought and the need to account for the funds spent is taken every time expenditure is considered.

For comparison we have looked at some local towns and whilst only looking at information from the AGAR Section 2 taking the staff costs as a percentage of income (including precept) - not quite the same as you asked for admittedly but easier to determine direct comparisons given otherwise differing formats:

• Ivybridge    46%

• Totnes      47%

• Crediton    37%

• Exmouth    42%

• Tiverton      29%

• Cullompton  54%

These were selected as towns in Devon, and show that Crediton is not dissimilar to other towns locally with staff spending.

When is the renovation work at Old Landscore School going to start, what renovations are proposed, and how much time has the council allocated to it?

This plan may still be optimistic, and we appreciate that it will inevitably need to be flexed to take into account other needs, priorities and issues as they arise, not least the moving and settling into Manor Office which will be the main priority in the coming quarter.

The above will vary depending on the building’s condition, planning complexity, and funding type/availability. Some actions will fall into more than one phase but not repeated several times as this would over complicate this high level plan.

I cannot be the only person to notice how much the buses waiting at both the St Lawrence Green stop and the stop outside the Museum, are causing traffic chaos (and probably leading to increased pollution) in the town.

The buses that run every 20 minutes or so, have a habit of sitting at the stop on the green for 5 minutes, backing up traffic at the traffic lights on the green, especially during peak work/school run times.

The more serious issue is the bus that I quite often see sitting at the stop outside the Museum. It's not uncommon for it to wait there for 10 minutes before driving away, and as such a bus seems to do this every 20-30 minutes, there are often queues of traffic sitting behind it for long periods. The stop is also in a stupid location in my opinion, directly on the junction of Searle Street. Anyone attempting to exit Searle Street has limited visibility because the bus blocks their view, and they take a risk pulling out if a vehicle is attempting to drive around the bus.

Can nothing be done about either stop locations or the time periods the buses sit at these stops waiting (especially outside the museum).

Community
01 April 2025

Mid Devon District Council (MDDC) has seemingly allocated over £200,000 to assist with traffic flow improvements in the Western Gateway, St Lawrence Green, and/or High Street areas. This sum includes approximately £35,000 from McDonald's and over £80,000 from Lidl, as published in MDDC's financial statement in November. Councillor Downes mentioned he was unaware of the specific purpose of these funds as the management falls under the county council. But are any other Town Council members aware of what this money is to be used for?

If the answer to the above question is "no", can I ask why the Town Council is not consulted at all regarding such significant funding decisions that relate to Crediton?

What progress has been made with regard to new toilets at Newcombes Meadow?

Given that you have found it impossible to keep a toilet open on Union Road, will the town council consider offering to run the single toilet at St Lawrence Green instead?

The council continues to liaise with Mid Devon District Council with regards to the provision of new toilets and more information will be shared as soon as firm dates are available. 

The council have not been approached to run such a facility, certainly since its change of use.

Update 14 October 2024: we are continuing to work with MDDC on this matter. The legal side of the project is being finalised. 

The council sought views of the public as to portrait and as a result will not be ordering a copy of the portrait at this time. The deadline of 2 February you refer to is, we understand, for eligible institutions including principal Local Authorities, courts, schools, police forces and fire and rescue services. Portraits for these eligible institutions were expected to be delivered between February and April 2024. Starting in February, the second phase of the scheme was planned to be extended to include town, parish and community councils and Ministry of Defence-sponsored cadet forces - this is because the scheme is being delivered in stages, to help manage the supply of portraits.

Update 14 October: A decision was made to apply for a copy of the King's portrait at the last Oversight Committee meeting as mentioned below.

Update 5 August 2024: Following further representation from members of the public, this issue will be reconsidered at the September meeting of the Oversight Committee