In 2011 all of Devon’s County Councillors were given an equal one off share of the remaining capital funding from the sale of Exeter Airport to use in their local areas in addition to the normal annual allocation of community funding. St Thomas County Councillor Rob Hannaford has been working closely with the local community to ensure that the funds are put to good long term uses. As usual in the new financial year £10,000 will be again allocated to Cllr Rob Hannaford for local community projects so please come forward with your ideas and suggestions to help improve St Thomas.

So far the following grants have been made and we will update you about the remaining grants shortly.

AGE UK – £4,000 towards the new expanded centre on Cowick Street to maintain and increase the important work already being done for local people.

Bowhill School – £2,950 granted for new multi purpose climbing frame and new play area.

Exeter Scouts – £1,000 towards an £18,000 refurbishment and redevelopment of the Exeter Scouts HQ at Ashton Road Marsh Barton, to support the work of the 936 local members, that includes over 700 children and young people in and around Exeter.

St Thomas Primary School – £1,700 granted for a new classroom audio system to help improve the teaching environment.

Redhillls Community Primary School – £3,000 granted for a new covered play area, sun sails and out door play equipment.

St Andrew’s Church – £1,000 granted for new community notice board.

Emmanuel Church – £2,000 to help repair the roof area near the community centre entrance to ensure that the nursery and outdoor areas are kept safe and in use.

After a Labour Party campaign led by local Councillor Heather Morris, we are very pleased to confirm that shoppers will no longer incur parking penalties if they temporarily leave the site.

In the past local people were penalised with a parking fine if they left Exe Bridge Retail Centre to visit toilets, or use facilities such as the post office or bank in nearby Cowick Street.

We understand that the owners of the site have now changed their procedures and signage. Please let us know of any further problems.

Concerns about new signs in and around Barton Road have been taken up with the Highways Department.

Please keep us informed of any other signage problems.

Several residents have contacted Rob about the former Showman Pub on Cowick Street . Although its apparently being rented out, there is no trading activity, and the building is becoming derelict, and also a magnet for graffiti & fly posting.

Rob Hannaford is pursuing various options with City Councils Environmental Health and Building Control Departments, and we will report back in due course.

The much loved and historic Pinces Gardens are to celebrate their centenary this year. Labour led Exeter City Council are investing £55,000 to preserve the historic gate house, that in future may be put into community use, and resurfacing works to paths around the parks. Unlike the local Lib Dems who “have concerns about the cost of these projects,“ we welcome this work , especially as many older residents regularly use these paths to access the local croquet and bowling clubs.

Furthermore Rob Hannaford is also working to support new plans to put in two new sets of ornamental gates at the Waterloo Road and Cowick Barton Playing Fields entrance with some match funding. We will keep you fully updated on this project.

Labour City Councillors have been dealing with a range of problems and issues at the leisure facilities in Exeter that are managed by Parkwood Leisure. The Riverside Leisure Centre in St Thomas has been the focus of some of these concerns which have included faulty lockers and hair dryers.

Rob Hannaford said, “Together with my other Labour Councillors we are receiving problem after problem from people about Parkwood Leisure. We are looking at ways we can help deal with these issues and hopefully improve the service that people are receiving.”

Please continue to let us know about any difficulties that you have been experiencing.

Last year Labour Led Exeter City Council set up a new community grants programme. Working with the other City Councillor for St Thomas, Cllr Rob Hannaford jointly agreed to support the following projects with the £1,500 budget:

• Age Uk – Men In Sheds project based in Wardrew Road
• St Thomas Methodist Church Play scheme.
• Exeter Sea Cadets.
• St Thomas Local History Group.
• The Devon Carousel Project for local children.
• Homestart family project.
• St Thomas Business & Traders Association Christmas Lights project.

Many residents will already be aware of the Conservative-dominated County Council’s decision to make cutbacks to local school crossing patrols, including when existing crossing people retire. Late last year, without a proper consultation, existing patrols were cut to St Thomas Primary School and Montgomery School. Cllr Rob Hannaford has been in contact with local parents, school governors and teaching staff to see what can be done.

At St Thomas Primary School Rob attended a site meeting with the head teacher and senior highway officers. As a result of this he has taken the suggestions – a more defined crossing area, the loss of a few parking spaces to improve visibility, and better signage at the Sydney Road, School Road, Princes Street North Junction – to the Exeter Highways Committee for consideration.

At Montgomery School parents organised a petition to move the existing crossing site to Okehampton Road. A site meeting took place and Cllr Hannaford has backed this suggestion.

We will keep you informed about both these issues – please do let us know your views and concerns.

Last year we were very pleased to report that we had successfully campaigned for extra highways investment for pavements and roads in St Thomas. The places to benefit include: Alphington Road, Buller Road, Cowick Lane, Nelson Road, Church Road, Cowick Street, Redvers Road, Old Vicarage Road, Brunswick Street, Cambridge Street, Albion Street, Flowerpot Lane, Shaftesbury Road, Princes Street North and Prospect Place. During the works your local Labour Team in St Thomas have been out and about checking on progress.

Cllr Rob Hannaford said, “Its fantastic that fifteen  areas in St Thomas are being improved. However there are a few more missing from this list, such as the remainder of Maple Road and Stafford Road, and I will be pressing for these to be completed in the next financial year.”

Please keep letting us know if you would like an update on your local area or would like to report any new problems.

Due a chronic shortage of school places in the West Exe area Devon County Council is consulting on plans to expand Bowhill School.

The plans include the demolition of a detached extended HORSA building, and construction on the same site of a two storey building comprising multi-use hall, production kitchen, four classrooms and associated facilities, together with relocation of an existing storage shed and covered pathway.

Several years ago well known local historian Christine Trigger, and the St Thomas Local History Group produced, with the help of Exeter City Council, a history trail leaflet for the Cowick Street area. They were so popular that local residents called for a reprint. Cllr Rob Hannaford has given a £400 Devon County Council community grant, and a re-launch event was held at the former St Thomas Library. Free copies of the new leaflet will be available at the new temporary St Thomas Library once open. We are also very pleased to announce that work is being done to produce a similar leaflet for the Alphington Road & Pinces Square area for later this year.

Alphington Road and Alphington Street, which are one of the busiest routes in Exeter, are to be re-surfaced and upgraded. The work is due to start in the New Year and will cost in the region of £750,000. This includes a new enhanced crossing, new pavements, improved cycle tracks, and the cost of acquiring the necessary land to allow for the widening of the road outbound between Marsh Barton and Alphington Cross. Its anticipated that this will take two months, and because the road is so busy, most work will be done between 7pm and 2am with the noisiest work having to finish by 11pm.

St Thomas City and County Councillor Rob Hannaford adds, “Overall I welcome the fact that full road resurfacing will take place, in addition to helping drivers, it will also help reduce noise from vehicles travelling over potholes and loose manhole covers, which are regular complaints from local residents in this part of St Thomas. The main feature of these changes is the much needed upgraded pedestrian crossing near Aldi and B&Q, that many residents have been lobbying me for over many years, and I hope it will greatly help improve matters.”

If work is done outside the agreed times or you experience problems please let us know.

Complaints are coming in thick and fast about dogs and fouling in Cowick Barton Playing Fields. Local footballers are having to spend precious match time every week clearing up large amounts of dog faeces from the pitches before playing. Furthermore some youngsters have been attacked on the pitch by dogs off their leads during matches.

The City Council is increasing its patrols of the area, and some local sports people and concerned parents have requested that the rules are changed for this park so that dogs have to be kept on leads.

Please let us know your views on this and any problems you may have been experiencing.

The initial consultation on the proposal to close off the junction between Ferndale Road and Old Vicarage Road, through local newsletters and the Echo is going very well. We are receiving good feedback from those both for and against the proposed changes, and its certainly generated a very lively debate.

We are going to have a further in depth door to door follow up exercise, before taking the matter to the next Exeter Highways Committee on the 24th November. If you have not yet submitted a view please email Cllr Hannaford at rob.hannaford@devon.gov.uk or leave a brief answer phone message on 203296 for or against the move.