MORE residents are wanted to serve on Newton Abbot and District Community Plan Group. It involves people from Abbotskerswell, Ipplepen, Kingskerswell and Kingsteignton. It was essential it was community and not council led, said Newton Abbot mayor Cllr Ken Lewis. 'We have quite a few representatives of the community but we would like to see more. There are five theme groups which were formed earlier this year which are examining ways of solving problems. 'Their suggestions will be brought back to the steering group and we will go out to public consultation,' he stated. One thing to come out of the group so far is a transport leaflet giving all the bus routes in the area. Anyone who would like to join the community plan group can contact the town hall on 01626 201120. p CLLR Reg Wills asked the town council if it would consider having a public meeting re the Teignbridge Local Development Framework. He said he felt it was one of the most important issues the town had faced, particularly regarding the northern option. p THE preferred bidder to develop the multi-million pounds Newton Abbot Hospital in Jetty Marsh, will be selected next month and announced in June. Having selected a short list of three developers from an initial list of 11, construction is expected to take 80 weeks, with a scheduled opening in June 2008. p THE town council had continued the fight for Seale-Hayne College, which closed its doors to students in the middle of last year, to be kept as an establishment for some form of education, Cllr Lewis told the meeting. The former world- renowned agricultural college has been used temporarily for police training. p THERE was glowing praise for the town's Christmas lighting display. Cllr Lewis said it was one of the best displays he had seen in his 22 short years in Newton Abbot. 'It was one of our biggest expenditures and our precept has increased by 5.2 per cent – one of the big reasons was our spending last year had eaten into our reserves.' Cllr Lewis pointed out that the wires crossing the streets were replaced and all electrical connections renewed. 'We were supported by donations from the traders,' he said. In his annual report Cllr Lewis said he had so far fulfilled 114 engagements. He said the town council had been particularly proud of the development of the Coach Road allotments. Cllr Lewis said that in the previous year the planning committee had dealt with 321 applications and in the past year had considered 296. p NEWTON Abbot Town Council is the 13th in Devon to be made a quality council. p A MINORITY of cyclists in the town had an attitude problem, the meeting heard. One resident said his wife had been driving in Queen Street and spoke to a cyclist who was going the wrong way along the one-way street. 'She received a mouthful of abuse. The next day she was reversing her car in the Cricketfield Road car park when she received abuse from another cyclist. 'There is an attitude by some of the cyclists. They also totally disregard signs,' he said. Di Nicholls said she understood pavements were for pedestrians. 'Now on the pavements there are cycles, skateboards, and scooters, and recently one elderly resident was knocked down,' she said.
