Under the consultation proposals the 77, 88 and 88c bus services would leave Ashburton Road at the junction with Barton Drive, following the route of the existing 77A and 88A services, before continuing along Barton Drive, Hunterswell Road and Bradley Lane.  

To enable buses to travel along the proposed route, a new section of road would be built between Hunterswell Road and Bradley Lane, creating a new single lane bus gate.  

New bus stops are proposed at Barton Drive, on the bend outside of and opposite number 65; Hunterswell Road, to the side of number 9 and number 49; and Bradley Lane, outside of and opposite Mill Court. 

But the changes will mean that some bus services will no longer stop at several locations along the Ashburton Road such as at Newton Abbot Leisure Centre, Coombeshead Academy and along the Exeter Road at Newton Abbot College. People who use these stops will continue to be served by the 77A and 88A as well as the 113, 193 and 672 services. 

To enable this new bus route to be created, parking restrictions will be introduced along Barton Drive, Hunterswell Road and Bradley Lane and to prevent misuse, the bus gate will be monitored by an Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) camera with fixed penalty notices being issued to offenders. 

Energy rebate payments update

Almost 14,000 households in bands A-D who do not pay their council tax by direct debit have now been invited by letter to apply to receive the £150 rebate. 

The responses are being processed by our team in line with customer wishes and payments are being made directly into bank accounts, crediting council tax accounts or via post office payments. 

So far we have received more than 6,000 requests for payment to bank accounts, 1,500 requests for paying the £150 in to residents’ council tax accounts and more than 500 requests for post office payment. 

This is on top of the 33,000 people who pay by direct debit and who have already received their £150 rebate.  In total we have processed just under £6 million in payments. 

Processing this volume of applications is a mammoth task as details need to be checked before payment can be made and we ask residents to bear with us while we undertake this work.  We are doing everything we can to process payments as swiftly as possible and we will be sending follow up letters to those who have not yet responded.   

Discretionary scheme

We will be launching shortly a discretionary scheme to support residents in council tax bands E-H who receive Council Tax Reduction and certain residents who do not pay council tax but who are directly responsible for payment of energy bills.  

We will publish the details and eligibility criteria on our website in the next couple of weeks.  We will write to Teignbridge households who we think will be eligible for this support so we ask residents in these categories not to divert the team from processing payments by calling us. 

As our priority is to process these payments we are sorry that response times for other issues may be longer than usual and that phones are being answered more slowly. 

We are on target to deliver support well within the government’s deadline of 30 September for the mandatory scheme and 30 November for the discretionary scheme. 

Feel good by joining a wellbeing walk

The Wellbeing team from KingsCare based at Kingsteignton Surgery are encouraging people to join them on their weekly walks which take place in Hackney Marshes every Tuesday.

Walkers meet in the Nature Reserve Car Park for 11am and stroll until around midday with time for a cuppa and a chat too.

The wellbeing walks are especially for people who want to take the first steps to become more physically active in a supportive and friendly group.  The walks help people to feel good by providing opportunities to chat to others, keep active and explore the local community . 

For more information and to join the walk group, contact the Kingscare team on 01626 357090

Don't risk spreading infections

Covid-19 cases are rising nationally and in Devon, with the latest figures showing an increase in the number of people in hospital with coronavirus and a rise in positive cases overall.

As numbers increase, it is important that we minimise the risk of transmission of respiratory diseases, including Covid.

Director of Public Health Devon Steve Brown is reminding everyone that Covid has not gone away.  “The national advice has not changed.  If you have symptoms of a respiratory infection, such as COVID-19, and you have a high temperature or do not feel well, try to stay at home and avoid contact with others”.

“Testing is no longer expected for most people – although it is required for people who are clinically vulnerable in order to access other treatments. However, if people still have any tests, I would suggest that they could use them ahead of situations where they know they’ll be in close contact with vulnerable people.

“And simple hand hygiene is also still important, not just to protect from coronavirus, but also for fighting other infectious illnesses. It’s a simple precaution, but still effective.”

More from Steve Brown

A month to renew tax credits

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is reminding recipients of tax credits to renew them before the 31 July deadline or their payments will stop.

Tax credits help working families with targeted financial support – so it’s important that customers renew before the deadline to ensure they don’t miss out on money they’re entitled to.

HMRC says that 323,700 customers have still to renew their tax credits.

Customers can renew their tax credits for free via GOV.UK or the HMRC app.  They can also log into GOV.UK to check on the progress of their renewal, be reassured it’s being processed and know when they’ll hear back from HMRC.

HMRC has released a video to explain how tax credits customers can use the HMRC app to view, manage and update their details.