Alphington
Stagger lights?
LOCAL councillors Roy Hill and Margaret Clark have come up with a suggestion for improving pedestrian safety at the Aldi/B&Q junction with Alphington Road.
Cllr Hill told Community News: "Cllr Clark and myself had a meeting with highways officers there.
"When the traffic lights change there are only 10 seconds for people to get across the road, and when we were there the number of people jumping red lights was unbelievable.
"What we have suggested to officers is that the left turn out of Sidney Road and the right turn out of the B&Q road are staggered. We think this will give pedestrians more time to cross the road."
The councillors have now heard from the county council, which is the highways authority, that it is to undertake a feasibility and impact study on providing a staggered crossing for pedestrians, and will present a report to Exeter's highways committee in due course.
Parking fines
FURTHER to the Echo's article last month regarding the handing out of tickets to those parking in Matford Park Road while attending Exeter's Sunday car boot sale, we reported that between April, when the county council took back direct responsibility for traffic enforcement from the city council, and August this year, 152 parking tickets had been issued, raising £5,320.
Community News has now learned from the city council that between April 2012 and April 2014, it handed out a total of 452 penalty notices, which would have raised £15,820.
And yet three years ago, Exeter's highways committee ordered that restrictions on a Sunday should be lifted.
At the time committee members were told by officers that, because of budget cuts, the traffic regulation order making the change would have to be tacked on to another to save costs, and the county council says now that the resources are still not available.
County councillors Percy Prowse and Olwen Foggin denounced the county's lack of action as 'outrageous' and 'appalling', and Cllr Prowse has told Community News that he is to raise the issue again at the next meeting of the highways committee.
Allowing parking on Matford Park Road would provide around 50 additional spaces.
Beacon Heath
Dog bite appeal
POLICE are appealing for witnesses to an incident on Sunday, September 28 at approximately 4.15pm in Bettysmead playing fields.
A young man was bitten by a German Shepherd-type dog as he was skateboarding through the playing fields.
He was bitten on the thigh in what appears to be an unprovoked attack, where the dog crossed the couple walking it to go for the youth on his skateboard.
The couple walking the dog are described as a white male and female in their 30s who also had a young child of toddler age with them.
If anyone has any information about the identity of the dog owners or was in the park at roughly that time on Sunday then they are urged to contact the police non-emergency number, quoting the crime reference number CR/110265/14.
City centre
Mayoral coffee
THE next Lord Mayor's Saturday coffee morning will be held in the Guildhall on October 11 between 10am and 2pm.
As usual, people will be able to pop in for tea or coffee and some cake.
The September coffee morning broke all records, raising more than £667.
Proceeds are for the Lord Mayor's charity this year, Exeter Leukaemia Fund.
A 'bake-off' held by city council staff on behalf of the Lord Mayor's charity raised £81.
Bike Bank
THANKS to a donation from data company Atass, the Bike Bank is now about to double its opening hours.
The bank helps people gain confidence towards being employed by providing training in basic bike maintenance and has been running for just over a year.
It is based in the Harlequin's centre.
Health check
ON Saturday, October 11, between 10am and 4pm, there will be free health checks at St Stephen's Church in High Street.
The event is part of a community programme which is being sponsored by the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
There is no need to book, just turn up on the day.
City-wide
Drug meeting
EXETER'S city and county councillors are arranging a meeting with Insp Tanya Youngs, in charge of neighbourhood policing in Exeter, to discuss drug issues in the city.
Pollution survey
EXETER'S health and well-being board is being asked to set aside £2,000 to undertake a pollution survey.
If given the go-ahead the survey aims to concentrate on the effect of ultra-fine particles on city residents.
The study proposed would measure the exposure of five individuals as they go about their normal day and would allow comparison between activities, locations, types of travel and individuals.
Recent modelling suggests that the equivalent of 42 deaths a year in Exeter are attributable to ultra-fine particles.
Parking tickets
THE city council's executive has heard this week that there has been a shortfall of £37,070 of Penalty Charge Notice income.
A spokesman for the city council said: "Despite maintaining a high level of enforcement, we haven't issued as many PCNs as we have done in previous years for a number of reasons.
"However, the shortfall does not mean our income from car parks has been affected."
The city council raises more than £5m from car parking income each year.
Duryard
Messy verges
THE hunt is on for the dog walker who allows his/her dog to foul the grass verges in West Garth Road.
Local councillor Percy Prowse said: "Everyone is trying to find out who the culprit is.
"As a civic duty the residents cut the grass verges here to keep the area looking nice, but someone is not picking up after their dog.
"The city council has sprayed warnings on the pavement in a bid to get this stopped."
Louise Harvey, the city council's street scene manager, said: "The city council is happy to spray similar template warnings on your street if there is a problem with dog mess."
Contact the city council on 01392 665010 to request.
Wreford's Lane
AT a recent neighbourhood Have Your Say meeting for residents with police officers and councillors, the speed and volume of traffic in Wreford's Lane was raised by several people.
Cllr Prowse said: "At the very least we are going to put a weight limit on the road, 7.5 tonnes, as it is increasingly being used by large lorries."
Exminster
Happy birthday!
RESIDENT Gwen Yeo is pictured here celebrating her 100th birthday with her daughter Mary and two of her Leap carers.
Gwen has been supported by the team at Leap for the past year which now form part of her extended family.
Gwen's birthday celebration also marks the first year anniversary of the Leap office opening in Heavitree.
It now employs more than 40 members of care staff.
Newtown
New premises?
THE hunt is on for new premises for the popular St Matthews Community Preschool.
The pre-school has been running in Newtown for some 40 years, and is currently based in Newtown Primary School.
However the school needs to expand, meaning the pre-school will need new premises from September 2016.
A public meeting has already been held to explore the need for a preschool in the community and seek support.
Around 30 parents, past and present, came to the meeting to express their support for the preschool.
Among those attending were councillors Roger Spackman and Richard Westlake, Phil Deem from the city council's business support team, and Ruth Jones, head of Newtown Primary school, with chairman of school governors Jenny Lloyd, and school governor Saxon Spence.
Vicki Maddren, deputy leader of the pre-school, said: "It was encouraging to see so many members of the community turn out to offer help, making suggestions for new locations and possible sources of funding for any building or renovation projects.
"St Matthew's is very happy to hear from anyone who could not attend the meeting who would like to help.
"Offers of expertise in planning and data research have already been kindly offered to further the project, and we would welcome any other help with issues such as legal matters or funding bids."
Anyone interested can contact the pre-school on admin@stmatthewscommunity preschool.com
School's award
THE local primary school has been presented with a special certificate for its ongoing work to develop an inclusive school community and learning environment.
At a special assembly in school pupils were presented with their certificate by Claire Thomson, lead advisory teacher for the communication and interaction team, on behalf of the county council.
Local councillor Richard Westlake said: "As a school governor I am very proud of the staff, parents, and especially the pupils for all their hard work to achieve this special award."
Roundabout
AS previously reported in Community News, a site meeting was to be held between councillors and highways officers to discuss damage caused to the Stoke Hill roundabout.
That meeting has now been held, and Cllr Westlake has told Community News: "We have discovered the major damage to the roundabout was caused by one particular lorry carrying a large storage container.
"It appears the driver was unable to take the route he needed because, at the time, Mount Pleasant Road was closed, and he drove across a part of the roundabout.
"This caused significant damage, but as it was one incident no action is to be taken regarding the design of the roundabout, although officers will continue to monitor it."
Pennsylvania
Behaving badly
PCSO Kate Rees and Councillor Peter Holland recently held neighbourhood forums at Dawn 'til Dusk in Bridespring Road, and Sylvania Stores in Collins Road, to give residents an opportunity to raise issues of concern.
These included traffic violations such as speeding cars, irresponsible car parking, and irregularities at the re configured Stoke Hill roundabout.
Also of concern was the behaviour of dogs, and their owners in the area, in addition to antisocial and challenging behaviour by neighbours.
PCSO Rees handed out marker pens and stickers for front doors to help with home security.
Cllr Holland said: "PCSO Rees also identified a passing driver using a mobile phone while driving, and noted the registration number – please be assured that appropriate action will be taken."
The next forums will be held on Friday, October 24, at 4pm in Bridespring Road, and 5pm at Collins Road.
Pinhoe
Dry-cleaning
SAINSBURY'S Pinhoe is hoping to follow in the footsteps of its sister store in Alphington with the installation of a small retail concession pod for Timpson's dry-cleaning service.
If granted planning permission by the city council the pod, measuring 14.5m², would be on the main store frontage on the north-eastern side of the building close to the customer entrance.
It would be accessed from outside the store and comprise a customer service counter and waiting area with staff working area beyond.
Key cutting and watch repairs services would also be included.
Polsloe
Parking
COUNCILLOR Richard Westlake has told Community News he is getting increasing numbers of inquiries from residents about residents' parking.
Cllr Westlake said: "As far as I am aware, there is a scheme being worked up which will take in quite a large area.
"I am getting reports of cars being parked and left not just for days but weeks on end.
"In particular I have had reports from Priory Road, Park Road and Ladysmith Road but really there is quite a spread of complaints."
RD&E Hospital
Eye care
A TEAM of nurse practitioners at the West of England Eye Unit have reached an important milestone of 10,000 injections to treat patients with a chronic eye condition.
The Exeter unit is the first in the country to have trained nurse practitioners to perform this type of eye surgery for patients with wet macular degeneration, and the innovation has brought benefits for staff and patients.
Wet macular degeneration occurs when abnormal blood vessels leak into the retina and is a common cause of poor vision in the elderly.
The condition can be treated with the injection of a drug directly into the eye under local anaesthetic. This injection needs repeating regularly to sustain the effect, which was increasing the workload of the WEEU.
In 2008 consultant eye surgeon Mr Peter Simcock, trained nurse practitioner Brian Kingett to give the injections rather than the doctor.
This was the first time that a nurse practitioner was able to perform this technique in the UK, and it has proved so successful that it has now been replicated in other eye units across the country.
The WEEU, based at the RD&E, now has a team of four nurse practitioners trained to provide the service.
As well as increasing the amount of procedures they can perform, this has also helped to ensure continuity of care for patients and freed up theatres and medical staff for more complex operations.
Feedback from patients on the service has been excellent, and the team has recently seen the results of their work published in prestigious medical journal Eye, the Journal of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists.
Mr Simcock has also been recognised for his work in providing exceptional patient care with a nomination in the Macular Society's annual awards for excellence in both 2013 and 2014.
Mr Simcock said: "The West of England Eye Unit has always been at the forefront of innovation in eye care.
"It was the first unit in the country to provide nurse practitioners to deliver an injection service and we have recently passed this important milestone.
"I was delighted and honoured to be nominated for the Macular Society award by my patients.
"I always try to deliver the best possible treatments for my patients and I keep up to date with new developments.
"I am only part of a much larger team of nurses, optometrists, managers and other support workers at the WEEU and without doubt this nomination also reflects on their fantastic contribution to the care of patients with macular problems."
St Thomas
TAKING possession of his new shed is Len Short, who lost his original shed in an arson attack at the Guys & Hylton allotments.
Frankie and Jo of Harris Timber donated the new shed and Men in Sheds refurbished the tools which were damaged.
University
National award
EXETER University's commitment to gender equality in science disciplines has been recognised with a prestigious national award scheme.
Four departments across the university have been bestowed with Athena SWAN awards.
Both the medical school and sport and health sciences have silver department awards, while mathematics and computer science and psychology were granted bronze awards.
Provost of the University Professor Janice Kay said: "I am delighted that these departments have been recognised by the Athena SWAN Charter with silver and bronze awards.
"It is a testament to the commitment and dedication shown by everyone involved to promote the careers of women in science and medicine.
"Exeter is absolutely committed to providing a culture and environment that support women to reach their full potential, and these awards recognise the progress we continue to make."
Professor Angela Shore, vice dean research at the University of Exeter Medical School, said she was proud of the silver award.
She said: "Despite the fact that women make up more than half of EU students and earn 45 per cent of EU doctoral degrees, less than a fifth of senior academic positions are held by women. The Athena SWAN charter, and the dedication of those who support it, seeks to redress this balance."
Launched in 2005, the Athena SWAN Charter recognises commitment to gender equality in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine.
Exeter University has been a member of the Athena SWAN Charter since 2011 and gained its bronze institutional award in 2012.
West Exe
Let's meet!
THE Cowick and St Thomas policing team are inviting local residents to the next community engagement meeting on Thursday, October 16, at 7pm.
The meeting will be held at Riverside Christian Centre, 13-14 Okehampton Street.
The purpose of the meeting is to discuss needs within the community and together seek sustainable solution to meeting those needs.
Attending the meeting will be Jayne Clarke who is project co-ordinator of the Community Healthwatch Initiative who will talk about the development of the St Thomas Community Healthwatch which she is hoping to set up.
It is also hoped that staff from the YMCA will be there to share their vision for the West Side Youth Centre building which is set to close.
Also discussed will be policing and other issues within the community.
Tea, coffee and light refreshments will be available.
If you intend to go please email mark.oliver@devonandcornwall.pnn..uk so that they can gauge numbers.
A message from Councillor Keith Owen, Lead Councillor for Environment, Health and Wellbeing:
"The aim of this consultation exercise is to find out what services are valued most by the people of Exeter.
"We know that street cleaning is a valued service not just in the city centre but elsewhere in Exeter. After all, the results of it are what many people see when they go out of their front doors in the morning. How important is this to you?
"Our parks and open spaces are also an important part of the city; they too have a degree of sensitivity about them. None of these decisions will be easy for us to make.
"Please tell us what you think."Exeter City Council's net expenditure on parks and public places includes:• £1.1m on maintenance of the city's parks and sports pitches• £140,000 on looking after the city's trees• £200,000 on children's play areas and the valley parks• £340,000 on public toilets• £1.3m on street cleaning• £120,000 on the cost of burials in Exeter's cemeteries
