At least the hedge has now been cut back so it’s possible to walk along the pavement without having to step into the road.

Many thanks to whoever was responsible.

There’s a housing shortage in South Molton, so why is this house in New Road being allowed to go to rack and ruin?

It’s been lyng empty  for over three years now. The front garden is totally overgrown (it’s barely possible to walk on the pavement), you can’t get to the front door and there are broken panes of glass. The whole house is gradually just deteriorating. Why?

Over the period it’s been empty it could have housed a homeless family and brought in at least £18,000 in rental income!

I doubt very much that the wind blew this over!

This is on the ‘pink’ path between Brook Meadow and Spearfield Close.

The town centre’s looking very much better now the scaffolding has been taken down from the town hall and its newly painted façade has been revealed.

For those who’re wondering. Yes, it’s always been painted.  No, the unicorn has never been painted (apart from its horn which is covered in gold leaf).

The gates to the churchyard will also be looking great once both sides have been painted.

It’s a shame about the bent railings at the edge of the pavement and the peeling paint on the façade of the HSBC (which may be closed or renamed in the near future).  Of course once the painting’s been finished the ladder will be gone!

For the life of me I don’t understand why the railings are there.

I think that all the broadband cabinets that are going to be installed in South Molton have been installed. UPDATE: I was wrong – a cabinet’s been installed at the top of Duke Street.

It’s now ‘just’ a question of putting the electronics and wiring in each cabinet and laying the fibre optic cable from each cabinet back to the exchange.

The cabinet at Pathfields, that is now live, was installed in some time in February and went live some time in May I think.  Some parts of South Molton might therefore go live by September or October.

It appears that the Link Road will be closed overnight (19:00-07:00) between Bolham Roundabout and Ash Mill on Thursday 11 June, Friday 12 June, Monday 15 June and Tuesday 16 June. The usual lengthy cross country diversionary routes apply.

There’ll be another overnight closure on this section in July, one in September and a grand total of eight in October,

In addition the Link Road between North Aller and Landkey will be closed overnight between 19:00 and 07:00 on Thursday 18 June and Friday 19 June.

Buck your ideas up Devon County Council! This is a strategic road for North Devon and should not be subject to closures of this nature.

A short stretch of the A39 out of Lynmouth is being resurfaced at the bottom of Countisbury Hill. As a result the road will apparently be closed for two days.

According to Devon County Council Highways the diversion route will add 109km to the journey and take just over two hours.

Admittedly that’s only if you need to go from one side of the roadworks to the other. But it’s still one hell of a diversion.

Wake up DCC!  A roads should not be closed unless absolutely necessary!

It’s good to see that the new fitness equipment in the Central Park is being used.

Interestingly it mainly appears to be used by teenagers –  but at least it is being used.

I spoke to a chap from Devon County Council Highways Department yesterday.

Apparently in future, rather than traffic light controlled two-way working, we’re going to see far more road closures.

There are two reasons for this. The first is safety related.

In order to allow two-way working there has to be  a clear three metre width for the traffic plus a 1.5 metre safety buffer zone. Many of the roads in North Devon aren’t wide enough to allow this. The contractor, South West Highways, are being extremely zealous about sticking to the rules.

The second reason, is, as ever, about money. Apparently it costs less to close a road than it does to institute two-way working. The costing obviously doesn’t include the loss of productivity and the extra fuel costs for those who may have to make a detour of several miles.

The pole in East Street isn’t actually in danger of falling down! That was just a ploy by the contractor to get highways to allow them to cone off some parking bays.

Unless they restrict parking opposite the pole the contractors won’t be able to work on it without closing the whole of the road. Restricting the parking has apparently proved a very difficult task.