A ROUND-up of a successful year for Buckland Monachorum Parish Council was presented to local residents last week.

On April 8 around 30 people went to Clearbrook Village Hall for the annual parish meeting.

Chairman of the parish council Ric Cheadle welcomed everyone to the meeting, reported on the parish council's activities over the year and thanked the parish council members and clerk for all their hard work.

One highlight for the council so far has been the completion of the Neighbourhood Plan.

Residents living within the parish of Buckland Monachorum were invited to be involved with its Neighbourhood Plan, which could give more power to the villagers.

Around 1,500 questionnaires were distributed to homes covered by the parish council — Clearbrook, Milton Combe, Crapstone, Buckland Monachorum and Yelverton — and a total of 475 were returned.

Mr Cheadle said: 'Feedback from the residents showed there were concerns over where proposed development may take place, the lack of adequate transport services, traffic "black spots", parking at Yelverton and a range of other issues.

'A precis of all the significant issues is on the Neighbourhood Plan's own Facebook page — Buckland Parish Neighbourhood Plan.

'One issue from the Neighbourhood Plan was over cycling on the A386.

'We received concerns from cyclists who get harassed by traffic and from motorists who get held up by cyclists.

'There is an idea circulating to look at the issue and although solutions are potentially difficult, we are in talks.'

The results from the questionnaire and other events to collect the views of residents will soon be formally compiled into a plan and be available for all to see on the parish website and Facebook page.

In his round-up, Mr Cheadle also congratulated all who were involved in the main achievements of the council, including improvements to pedestrian access around Yelverton, provision of a defibrillator for Buckland Monachorum and for providing monetary support towards a bus for Tavistock Area Support Services (TASS).

As part of the annual meeting, there was a presentation by the Devon Association of renewable Energy (DARE) on the Rural Community Energy Fund (RCEF), which supports rural communities in England to develop renewable energy projects that provide economic and social benefits to the community.

The parish council has been awarded a grant from RCEF to conduct a feasibility study on whether a community energy scheme is a viable option for the parish.

The study will look at a range of possible opportunities, including generating solar power, heating using biomass and hydro energy.

If a scheme is shown to be both technically feasible and have community support, local residents will have the opportunity to invest in the scheme and get both a return on that investment and provide support for community projects.