Dulverton invite – 7th November 2013

Dear Councilor ,

Dulverton is pursuing a strong economic future by asking the community, businesses, visitors, and public services working together.

You are invited to a discussion at Dulverton Town Hall, 4pm to 5.30pm or 7:30pm to 9:30pm on 7th November to help us form an 'Our Place' partnership and hear about progress with traffic management plans? ‘Our Place’ is a Government programme which will be rolled out to 100 communities in 2014.

At these Round Table discussions you will hear from:

  • Ron Ley, Ilfracombe business man, how they have been so successful in bringing the community, public services, and budgets together
  • Mel Usher: Frome Council Leader, how they are managing more of their own affairs with all of the councils involved
  • Paul Yeomans, Traffic Consultant, how Dulverton can manage its traffic more effectively in future

County, District, Town, Parish, National Park, Health, Police, Housing, Fire and Rescue Services are being invited to participate with local residents and community leaders.

We hope that you or your representative will join us. Two sessions are being organised so that you can choose whether to come in the afternoon or evening. Please feel free to send representatives to both discussions.

RSVP 07831 711380

Nick Thwaites, Mayor/ChairmanKeith Ross, Vice-Chair

DULVERTON - SOME FACTS

•Dulverton already owns or manages 24 of its public facilities – halls, churches, playgrounds, sports etc. People raise hundreds of thousands of pounds each year to maintain these

•Residents pay£11,500 per year on average in tax (Council, fuel, VAT etc)- more in rural areas

•Public services spend £10 million in Dulverton each year, £6,600 for each resident. Police, Health, Housing, Education, Environment, Highways, Fire and Rescue, Somerset County Council, West Somerset Council, and the National Park are being encouraged by Government to devolve a small percentage of these resources for more effective spending locally. That’s what Ilfracombe and Frome are doing

•This makes economic, as well as social, sense. Residents have local knowledge and expertise

•The District Council spends £55,000 a year on the environment in Dulverton. This includes sweeping roads where cars are permanently parked. The car parks, coincidentally, make £55,000 a year for the District Council. A straight swap would clean the town better and benefit WSC, parking charges and tax payers

•Government has just given Dulverton a grant of £10,000 to develop one idea by coordinating traffic flow and parking. On the 7th of November this Business Plan will be put before you

SOME TOUGH CHALLENGES

•21 part-time, public service jobs were lost last year in Dulverton - an economy which depends on part-time work

•The Youth Club, Recycling Centre, Library were all threatened, but kept open by local action

•Dulverton is one of only four places in Somerset that has to pay for recycling - on top of the Council Tax already paid for this service

•We pay extra ourselves to salt the roads tothe Community and First Schools, Nursery, Doctors, Dentists, and Community Centre

•Last year we lost the Lower Mead care home, the Gym for a while too

•The future of the Middle School is threatened

•Three shops are closed and empty

•Sunday morning churchgoers are getting parking fines

Come on November the 7th and help us be more positive, grow our economy and do better

‘Our Place’ is a Govt funded programme in which a partnership with service providers is formed to enable residents to use resources more creatively to save money and achieve locally improved results. Ilfracombe is one of the 12 national pilots. 100 more new projects will be announced in the New Year. Dulverton can be one of these.

Attached below (to whet your appetite!) are the sources of the £82m which Ilfracombe identified last year, and the partners they have drawn together to regenerate One Ilfracombe. Dulverton could do the same.

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