Local councils are filling in the gaps

New recruits are joining the growing ranks of Devon County Council’s community road wardens.

Around a quarter of local councils in Devon have now either signed up as Roads Wardens or have been trained or are waiting for training as part of the scheme.

Community road wardens can carry out a range of duties including minor work such as weed clearance, grass cutting, sign cleaning, small drainage work, and minor road repairs. They act as their local councils’ primary point of contact with the county council’s local neighbourhood highway officers.

So far, 22 local councils have signed up to the scheme, with 33 people from those areas having received Chapter 8 training, which teaches how to create a safe environment for highway work.

A further 67 people from local councils and other organisations (including district councils, Community Payback Scheme supervisors and local community organisations) have undertaken Chapter 8 training with 37 more booked or on the waiting list for training.

Among the newly-trained community road wardens is Cllr Ken Browse, from Halberton Parish Council in Mid Devon. Cllr Browse is also the chairman of the Devon Association of Parish Councils and vice-chair of the National Association of Local Councils (NALC). He said: “In these times of austerity local councillors can do that extra bit to maintain their areas to a higher standard than would otherwise be achieved by the upper tier authorities due to budget restraints.”

For more information please see an item on BBC’s Daily Politics Show on 10th February (25m 44s – 29m 26s - time limited availability).