Feock Parish Council
Council frequently asked questions
There are a number of myths about what Parish Councils can and can't do so we thought it would be useful to have a page of the questions and queries we receive most frequently.
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We hope residents find this useful, if there is something not covered here please let us know so we can add it.
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Emergency contacts for when the Parish Council Office is closed are available at the bottom of the page.
Planning applications
The Parish Council will always provide a consultee comment on planning applications in the Parish and represent residents views but do not refuse planning applications, the final decision is made by Cornwall Council. We will always comment in line with our Neighbourhood Development Plan policies.
We keep an up to date list of planning applications on our Current Applications page.
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You can also set up alerts on Cornwall Council's planning page to be alerted by email when an application has been submitted in a certain postcode.
Planning enforcment
Cornwall Council Planning Enforcement have the powers to investigate breaches of planning permissions and suspected breaches can be reported online to them. The Parish Council are not involved with planning enforcement and due to GDPR and Data Protection rules do not get notified of any enforcement cases or progress with cases and investigations. Updates can only be disclosed to the person who has made the enforcement report.
Use this link to make a report about suspected breaches of planning.
Highways
The Parish Council can report highways issues such as pot holes to Cornwall Council but do not do any actual physical road works or have input into when roadworks are carried out or roads closed.
Residents can also make reports about problems with Highways using this link
The Parish Council may be able to help (where funds allow) to make pedestrian access safer locally but speeding and anti-social driving is a matter for the Police and should be reported to them on 101 or email 101@devonandcornwall.pnn.police.uk
Speed limits
Speed limits are set by the Highways Authority using a national criteria based on the layout of the road, if it is a built up area etc. The Parish Council can request that limits are altered but any changes have to be in accordance with the national criteria. The Parish Council have received funding for a portable flashing speed warning sign which is moved around the parish regularly to remind drivers of the speed limit.
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Overgrown hedges
Hedges beside the highways/footways and public rights of way are the responsibility of the landowner to keep cut. The Parish Council can send out a formal notice on behalf of Cornwall Council requesting this be done if hedges are getting overgrown but the Parish Council do not physically cut hedges.
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If you notice an overgrown hedge you can email the Parish Council who will check the issue and send out a notice if necessary. If no action is taken this can be escaled to Cornwall Council but they will only take action to cut the hedge in extreme cases where the hedge is causing a serious highways safety issue.
Public Rights of Way
The Parish Council do keep the surface of public rights of way cut down, as part of our contract with Cornwall Council, and work with landowners and Cornwall Council to make improvements to public rights of way to make them more accessible.
Problems such as missing signposts, overgrown side growth and obstructions on public rights of way can be reported to the Parish Council or directly to Cornwall Council using this link
Protected Trees and TPO Areas (Tree Preservation Order areas)
The Parish Council can advise residents if a tree is protected or not, if the resident suspects unauthorised works are being carried out or a protected tree is at risk, then this should be reported to Cornwall Council Planning Enforcement for them to investigate (see above). The Parish Council would also be interested to know of any trees residents feel are at risk.
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A useful map showing the protected trees and TPO areas is available via this link
Parking problems
The Parish Council can advise residents how to report illegally parked vehicles - see link below.
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Contrary to popular belief, it is only illegal to park on a pavement in London although legislation is being considered to bring in this law
elsewhere in the UK.
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Vehicles parked where there are parking restrictions ie. loading bays, yellow lines, or on a pavement where there are yellow lines alongside it (this is an offence as the vehicle is in effect parked on the yellow lines) should be reported to Cornwall Council using the link below.
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Vehicles that are causing an obstruction should be reported to the Police on 101 or email 101@devonandcornwall.pnn.police.uk
Such as parking on a pavement or too close to a corner, although due to staff shortages it is likely that these issues will be given a low priority.
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Report an Illegally parked vehicle
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Environmental problems
The Parish Council can advise residents how to report dog fouling, fly tipping or littering but cannot issue tickets for any of these offences. Links are below for all these issues. The Parish Council is happy to help publicise where there are hot spots for these issues on their social media to highlight it to residents and hopefully offenders.
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Road sweeping is not routinely carried out by Cornwall Council but if there is a road near you that is particularly bad and causing a hazard please let the Parish Council know and they will request that it is swept.
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Weed control
The Parish Council do not currently carry out weed control due to the costs involved in this. Cornwall Council used to fund this but this funding was withdrawn a number of year ago.
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The local Feock Eco Group arrange litter picks and if you would like to take part please email Lesley Fitt on LFFeock@protonmail.com
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Parks and Recreation Areas
The Parish Council are responsible maintaining for the parks and recreation areas across the Parish (Park an Gwarry and Pengelly Meadows in Carnon Downs, Retallack Field in Feock and Devoran Recreation Area in Devoran) if you come across any damage please report this to the Parish Clerk on debra@feockparishcouncil.co.uk The areas have a safety inspection carried out on a monthly basis.
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Other things the Parish Council can help with
The Parish Council can also help with things like arranging lifts to Doctors or Dentists appointments, delivery of prescriptions and delivery of shopping to housebound residents. They also keep the salt bins around the parish full in case of bad weather, ensure the play equipment and facilities in the Parish are kept in good order, provide a Community Library in Devoran, collect batteries and blister packs for recycling, provide and maintain defibrillators around the Parish and help promote local groups and events and much more.
More about the support services we provide are available on our dedicated wellbeing website My Feock
In conclusion the Parish Council uses its local knowledge to make representations to Cornwall Council other public bodies in our search to influence and improve services for residents.
So you can see the work of a Parish Council is very varied and is not all like the Vicar of Dibley! —if you’re interested in getting involved there are sometimes vacancies (advertised on the noticeboards and our website), please get in touch with the Parish Clerk, Debra Roberts on 01872 863333 or debra@feockparishcouncil.co.uk for more information.
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Emergency Numbers - 24 hour lines
Cornwall Council Highways (CORMAC) including flooding, trees down, road closures and road works - 0300 1234 222
Cornwall Council Adults & Children Safeguarding - 0300 123 1116
National Gas Emergency - gas leaks - 0800 111 999
Environment Agency - pollution of land or rivers - 0800 80 70 60
Coastguard - pollution of sea/beach - 01326 317575
National Grid - power cuts - 105
SWW water or sewage leak - 0344 346 2020