The Dartmoor Tors Festival, held at Ashburton and on the moor, is new. Like all festivals, it relies on individuals with vision and drive plus lots of volunteers. I was very glad I went early and heard talks last Saturday by Dr Lee Bray on the archaeology of Dartmoor, by Sophie Pierce and Fiona Robertson on ‘Love, Loss and Landscape’ and a concert by the Welsh / Cornish indie pop singer Gwenno - who was a delight. On the Sunday morning Jane Lovell and I read wildlife poems in a duet and felt elated by the audience response.
Photo: Sian Bonnell
Driving home I suddenly recognised the signs of a puncture. I limped to off-road parking beside a house and no sooner had I stopped the car and started looking at which tyre was affected than a man appeared from the house and asked if I needed help. I’m afraid I did. The kind stranger put on the spare and checked the other tyres. I asked if he had a favourite charity I could donate to - ‘Cats’ Protection, Barnstaple’, he said at once. I sent them a donation as soon as I got home. What practical goodness.
There was a very finely balanced planning issue on Wednesday. It involved a part-retrospective application for two pitches for residential caravans in a field near Charles, a few miles east of Barnstaple. The council cannot demonstrate a five year land supply for such pitches, of which there is a need for 15 in Torridge and North Devon (whereas only eight have so far been delivered). We listened to the case officer’s full report - which I’d read in advance - outlining the planning balance. There were eloquent speeches from members of the public for and against, mostly the latter. Cllr Liz Bulled, a farmer who represents the ward, spoke of why she had called the case to the committee: she wanted al the local residents involved in the case to see how the planning system works within a framework of regulations and the weighting of different aspects - including amenity, road safety, biodiversity, sustainability and many otherr factors. She also spoke of visiting the site and speaking to the applicant: there are health issues and the welfare of a child attending a local school. In the end, these issues determined the balance in favour of approval (which the case officer had proposed). I voted in favour with seven others; there were four against. The Reform county cllr had sent a statement saying that the issue should never have come to planning because the applicant should not have set up caravans in the field in the first place. This might sound like robust common sense but it ignored the health and welfare issues of the real human beings involved. I’m glad the vote went the way it did: the site is only approved for the use of the applicant and his family, not in perpetuity. It was a difficult but in the end sensible and proportionate decision.
Which brings me to the local election results. The resuts for the Greens are the best ever - and I know how much hard work by our activists went into achieving them. The question has been asked - are Reform and the Greens ‘extremist’ parties? One of the best comments from Friday morning was this, by the Green MP Sian Berry on BBC Breakfast News: ‘We are where most people in the country are in terms of things like investing in housing and public services … it's Labour and the Conservatives who have abandoned that... the Greens are picking up their votes in an entirely sensible fashion, putting forward policies that really should have been in the Labour manifesto’.
Photo: Dave Clinch
Our Vigils continue - week 128 I think. The situation in Gaza is desperate. Rat infestations threaten tent dwellers as does the rising temperature with summer approaching, together with lack of food and medicines (witheld by the merciless Israeli government). Our media are not reporting the catastrophic realities but they can be found in reports by Dr Ezzideen Shehab, which are shared each week at our vigils and can be read on Instagram and X.
There was an Open Day on Wednesday so I popped in to have another look at the new performance space at Bridge Chambers, to be known as the Bridge, in Barnstaple. I’ll be on a committee to help with making the venue a success.
Our potatoes seem to be doing well - I can’t quite put my finger on what attracted me to No-Dig gardening. The rest of the garden is giving great pleasure too, especially now the Irises are coming into flower around the pond. The hedgerows are a delight I enjoy every time I cycle into town.
Thank you for reading.