ACTIONS to help villagers in Timberscombe cope with a community emergency have been outlined in an annual report by parish council chairman Cllr Katy Attwater.

Cllr Attwater said final touches were currently being made to the village emergency plan before it was published.

She said during the year the council had given £600 to help the village hall committee buy an an emergency generator.

Cllr Ian Ware had taken over the responsibility for the defibrillator in the red telephone box in The Glebe, and the council organised a First Aid training night in the village hall run by Minehead Defibrillator Group.

More than 25 residents attended the training and the council made a £100 grant to the Minehead group for its help.

Cllr Attwater said councillors also bought a bleed kit which was fitted next to the defibrillator.

She said a villagers’ WhatsApp emergency call group had been set up for people to call for help in an emergency.

Cllr Attwater said councillors received a presentation by local micro-provider organiser Victoria James and were later able to obtain a £3,000 grant to ‘enhance village resilience among the elderly or infirm’.

The grant was being managed by the Good Neighbours team to improve communication between villagers and micro-providers, increase the number of providers in the village, connect people to those who could provide help, and to support the work of the scheme.

Cllr Attwater said: “So far, it has funded the free cream teas, connecting residents and helpers, purchased some items for the emergency plan, and some disabled equipment for the team to use with its clients.”

She said councillors had also taken up speeding concerns by villagers and bought three ‘slow 10 mph’ signs which had been put up on the three entry points to the centre of Timberscombe.

A speed indicator device (SID) had also been bought, which it was hoped would be in use shortly to tackle a long-standing issue of speeding.

Cllr Attwater said: “We are also discussing the possibility of CCTV at the Post Office junction, following several accidents at this site.”

Councillors had not forgotten the ‘perennial problem’ of surface water in Great House Street and had been working with Somerset Highways to try to resolve it.

However, Wessex Water refused permission for water to be diverted to a nearby drain, because it was trying to reduce surface water entering the system.

The council received a quote for £75,000 to £100,000 for a gulley to pass down the side of the road to the nearest permissible drain, but instead was now looking at a cheaper option for a new drain to link up with a nearby drainage system and had held ‘positive discussions’.

Cllr Attwater said councillors spent ‘a huge amount of time’ on Magna Housing heating problems following a Free Press special investigation into how the association had left tenants without heat for weeks on end during freezing winter conditions.

Magna had since received a grant to retro-fit the village’s Orchard estate properties this year with new heating systems.