AT this week’s Bovey Tracey Town Council meeting, it was revealed that the town’s cemetery, which opened in 1889, only has another estimated 10 years until it is filled to capacity.

A number of options have been considered. Among the possibilites were reburials; preventing non-parishioners being buried there; and a columbarium which would contain niches for people’s ashes. These have all been ruled out as inappropriate.

The remaining options will now receive further consideration. These are to use available small spaces around the cemetery which could allow for 80 ashes burials; to purchase a new plot of land; and to relocate soil from grave excavations which has been piled up to create a Devon bank and use the freed-up space.

► DUE to a shortfall in funding, Devon County Council’s Highways division will no longer tackle every drainage issue on the county’s roads.

Cllr George Gribbble said the £35m shortfall meant the county would prioritise drainage cases and only deal with those which presented a safety issue.

He did however, have better news regarding potholes. He explained that the number of potholes on Devon’s roads were lower than they had been in previous years.

► A MEMBER of the public questioned Bovey Tracey Town Council’s decision to approve the proposed Domino’s outlet in Station Road.

He asked if nearby residents had been polled to see if they supported the proposal as they would experience significant noise at all times and greater traffic congestion.

The council said they had not received any objections when the matter had been discussed, and the pizza outlet was a ‘Marmite issue’ with people either loving the proposed retail unit or being dead against it. The council said they had passed the plans with the provisos that the hours were reduced and DCC came up with suitable traffic management plans.

► THE flag could one day be flying above the new Riverside Community Centre. Cllr Tony Allen said it was a missed opportunity to fly the Union Flag at Half Mast above the council offices during the recent period of national mourning.

The council’s flagpole remains under their ownership above the old town hall which has been taken over by the Dartmoor Whisky distillers, and it was flown there at Half Mast.

The long-term plan is to relocate it to the new council premises but this would first have to go through the Teignbridge District Council planning procedure.

► IT could soon cost you money to spend a penny at the Riverside Community Centre. The new toilets, which include a disabled adult changing facility, replaced the block in the Station Road car park block. Further up the town the Mary Street toilets – which are still proposed to be turned into a takeaway – have been shut for a couple of years.

Presently, the Riverside toilets are free to use but as the council is seeking ways to reduce the running costs of the centre, believed to be in the region of £16-20k per annum, a charge to use the toilets is being considered.

An alternative would be to increase the council’s precept which would be passed on to every household in the parish. The issue will be raised in the council’s next Quality Update newsletter due out in a few weeks, when the council will seek residents’ views.