Better Together - The Loddiswell Community Forum

Representatives of the various community groups and organisations in Loddiswell first came together in early 2025. Our aim was to share information, support each other and to work alongside the Parish Council to develop key priorities and plans for the village.

As part of this we have been working with the Parish Council to help them to complete the Neighbourhood Plan, which they started a few years ago.

In April 2025 we, alongside the Parish Council, held a “Blue-Print for Loddiswell” open day.

The various groups within the village show-cased what they were about, the Parish Council displayed the draft neighbourhood plan and comments were invited.

It was a very informal and social occasion - The Pop-Up Cafe provided refreshments and people could drop in throughout the day. Residents were also invited to share their views on life in the village and where they thought improvements could be made. They did this by writing on post it notes and sticking them on the walls.

It was an incredibly well supported day and we received a huge amount of post-it note feed back, the results of which can be found below.

You asked - we listened:

We and the Parish Council have taken notice of the feedback from the open day and have already taken action on some of your suggestions:

Community Website - there were several requests for a community website, and here it is! It is being set up and administered by volunteers from the forum, with the Parish Council funding the hosting fees.

Road Safety - this has been a cause of concern to residents for many years, particularly the speed at which traffic travels at past the Beechwood Estate, where children frequently cross the road. The Parish Council have tried hard to persuade Devon County Council to install a pedestrian crossing there to no avail. Since the open day, further pressure has been brought to bear on DCC - watch this space. The Parish Council also applied for a 20mph speed limit through the village and are still on the waiting list for this, but it could take sometime. In the meantime we are looking at mounting a “20 is Plenty” campaign, which quite a few other villages have done locally. Although not a mandatory speed limit, it is hoped that the signage would encourage drivers to slow down.

We will also be working through the other feedback from the day and hopefully you will see more changes/improvements being implemented in the future.

Aims - Loddiswell Community Forum

• The Loddiswell Community Forum is a discussion group of individuals actively involved in the community, to meet regularly with the aim of supporting and enhancing community life within Loddiswell.

• To promote positive communications between the residents, community groups (including Loddiswell Primary School and Pre School), the Parish Council, SHDC, Devon County Council, local businesses and other key organisations.

• To develop support mechanisms across the different organisations.

• To actively publicise key activities

• To support ways of understanding the views and priorities of the community’s residents.

• To ensure the above assists sustainably with the development of ideas, plans and improvements of the village environment, its activities and services.