DURING the full meeting of Holsworthy Town Council on Wednesday, September 4, newest Torridge District Councillor for the area, David Jones, gave his district report and discussed the district council’s Strategic Plan.

Beginning with his report, Cllr Jones said: “I don’t have a big update for you as the last meeting [August 5] was cancelled — apparently there wasn’t a lot going on!”

This was of some amusement to councillors in the light of current Brexit talks.

However, Cllr Jones said he did want to discuss an investment fund that was in the works at Torridge: “The Future High Streets Investment Fund has been talked about recently.

“My understanding is that you nominate a high street for regeneration and investment. This is meant for larger towns and Holsworthy would be too small to be considered but I don’t think we should be forgotten — it is not just about places like Bideford all the time!”

The councillors concurred.

Later in the meeting councillors discussed Torridge District Council’s Strategic Plan. They were given the opportunity to voice their opinions on what goals they wanted to see in the plan that could benefit Holsworthy.

Torridge District Council’s Strategic Plan for 2016 to 2020 listed four main goals: Developing a prosperous and sustainable economy; Stronger, safer, healthier communities; Protecting and enhancing the quality of the environment; An effective and customer focused council.

Town clerk Vanessa Saunders invited Cllr Jones to expand on his initial report regarding the Torridge District Council Strategic Plan, which had been circulated before the meeting.

Cllr Jones said: “I see my role as taking what Holsworthy wants back to Torridge.

“At the moment the council are trying to be consumer conscious. We have the opportunity to say what routes we want to take, what priorities we want to set — I don’t know if our suggestions will just be put on a poster and I don’t know how much they will take forward, but it’s worth a try!”

Cllr Jones said he had been a bit taken aback by the latest information from the Office for National Statistics and thought the data should be taken into account when listing priorities. He said: “There are 340 regions and areas in the country. When you look at the income per week Torridge is sixth from bottom — I knew it would be low, but not that low! We are also the 67th most deprived area, which takes into account crime etcetera.

“I think it is worth taking these statistics into account and what we want to do to improve them.”

He added: “For me I think we need to be developing a prosperous and modern economy and bring that out of the big towns and down here to create more modern jobs.”

Cllr Jones invited the town councillors to have an input and make a few suggestions.

Cllr Richard Brown commended Cllr Jones for his enthusiasm: “You’re going to be up against it but I know you will try and keep up with the economy.”

Having served on the council in the past Cllr Brown had some previous experience of the Strategic Plan. He said: “When I was mayor we had some superb councillors but even we had our problems — we were referred to as the ‘geriatric Starsky and Hutch’. But, if you can help the local economy that will help with everything else. My advice, you will just have to keep hammering and get [Torridge District Council] to think further than Bideford!”

Cllr Jones said he had every intention of making Holsworthy’s voice heard against the bigger towns in the region.

Another point that had struck Cllr Jones as being worth discussion was Holsworthy’s average wage to house price (nine to one).

Cllr Toby Johns said he believed there should be more emphasis on employment land: “We have more than enough affordable housing sites, what we need is more job opportunities for local people to keep up with the demand created by these new houses. The main commercial sector in this area is farming. More land should be allocated to agricultural based businesses.”

Cllr Brown said he believed the industrial estate on Dobles Lane ‘used to do well’ and wondered if they could make more of that as they had ‘punched above their weight before’.

Torridge District and town councillor Jon Hutchings said there were proposed expansion plans underway for the site. Councillors said this was positive news and a step in the right direction.

Cllr Jones said if the council did believe more modern jobs were what was needed he would advise the council use general terms when putting their suggestions forward for the Strategic Plan. He suggested ‘expanding the rural economy’ would be more effective than a specific request.

Cllr Jones said he was aware of the internet issues faced in the area and asked if this was something the council would like to highlight as a means of improving the economy and giving a helping hand to local businesses. He said one way around it for small and start-up businesses was ‘hot desking’ something Torridge District Council is currently investigating.

Mrs Saunders said: “I think it is better to invest in infrastructure.”

Cllr Hutchings added there was previously a hot desk facility in Holsworthy but it was not utilised enough to warrant continued expense and so it was disbanded.

As a final point, Cllr Nigel Keneally said he believed Torridge District Council should improve its use of social media, suggesting communication could also be a priority.

Mrs Saunders concluded the discussion: “Has all that helped, Cllr Jones?”

Cllr Jones thanked the council and said it had been very informative.