Salcombe’s town mayor heralded the town having a “full compliment of councillors” in his report at the Annual Town Meeting last week.

In his annual mayor’s report on the town, Cllr Mike Fice began by thanking the town, district and county councillors for their work throughout the previous year. He also thanked project manager Pete Robinson and town clerk Gill Claydon for their efforts on behalf of the town.

Cllr Fice highlighted that the town now has a full compliment of twelve councillors - something that had only been the case for approximately nine months of his four plus years as a town councillor.

Cllr Fice then identified some of the highs and lows of life in Salcombe in the previous twelve months.

He drew attention to the heated debate surrounding South Hams District Council’s plans for Whitestrand in the summer.

Cllr Fice said: “Through the auspices of district councillors Judy Pearce and Simon Wright, the plans have been stalled, but will be back with a full consultation at a later date.”

The town had a new street cleaning regime imposed last summer, with the much-loved road-sweeper Chad Benson being moved away from the town.

Cllr Fice said: “Chad won’t be coming back, but we’re working with SHDC to ensure we get a good quality street-cleaning service in Salcombe. We have been assured we will have full 12 hour street-cleaning coverage throughout the summer months.”

Cllr Fice also mentioned that the town had obtained funding for the new path between the boat park and Batson, and two new benches for Victoria Quay, with another bench being moved from there to Courtenay Park. The town has also received funding from the Community Reinvestment Fund for new street lighting on Main Road and for the renovation of Cliff House from the Town and Parish Fund.

The work on the Fairweather Fountain at North Sands had now been completed and Cllr Fice thanked Cllr Caroline Bricknell for all her hard work on this project.

This year, the town’s mortuary building was weather-proofed, and needed further work. Cllr Fice said that the next question to be answered was what the “public wanted the building used for?”

He went on to commend Adam Parnell, Salcombe Harbour Master for stepping up to fulfil the role of the town’s parade marshall for Remembrance Day.

Cllr Fice said the neighbourhood development plan is still proceeding, with a group of five people working to put it together. He said the policies were being put together and the next stage is to employ a consultant to guide them through production of the plan.

Cllr Fice also drew attention to the new Salcombe Town Council website and the recently resurrected council Facebook page for which he thanked Cllr Richard Whitfield.

The Salcombe Town Council website can be found at: www.salcombetowncouncil.gov.uk.