The last week has been a busy one, but very productive in terms of helping to formulate our future plans for the council. All councillors met at a workshop event to begin to draft the council’s next strategic plan, which I spoke about in my last column.

Essentially the output is a list of priorities for the council over the next five years and as you would expect there was much to discuss. Unsurprisingly affordable Housing and the Economy were at the forefront of many of the discussions and definitely a collective agreement that these would be amongst the primary areas to concentrate on.

Work will now continue with further councillor and officer meetings leading to draft proposals being presented to an extraordinary public meeting of Full Council on October 2.

When this is ratified there will then be a period of public consultation, which will give all our residents an opportunity to let us know if they agree with the priorities or whether anything has been missed.

I’m optimistic that there will be a lot of common ground amongst councillors on our direction and focus and also with the public when they make their views known as well.

Helping to develop a vibrant and growing economy is certainly going to be one of the themes of our plan and thankfully we have effective support in this from our delivery partner North Devon Plus.

They have two specific schemes running at the moment one to help farmers diversify their operations and the second to help businesses grow.

In the latter case the Business BOOST programme offers free one-to-one support helping businesses take an in depth view of their circumstances, priorities and options to create and implement realistic action plans for development and growth. Entrepreneurs may also be eligible for a small business support grant of up to £1,500 subject to certain criteria.

Support for farmers is already available thought the other scheme but the North Devon Biosphere in conjunction with North Devon Plus are planning to host a free ‘Farm Diversification into Tourism’ workshop, for farmers and landowners.

The aim is to provide an overview of how to set up a tourism business, whether it be as a form of accommodation provision, farm shop, farm tour, or other experience held on their land. They are keen to find out what demand there might be for this and are asking farmers to complete a short survey, to let them know their views.

If there is enough interest, the workshop will be held on a weekday, towards the end of January/early February 2024 on a farm that has already diversified into tourism.

As a bonus pasties and refreshments will be provided! The workshop will include a talk from the venue host, about the benefits and challenges of diversifying, a talk from a Glamping & Eco-Resort Business Coach, information on countryside stewardship payments and much more.

To find out more about both of these opportunities’ businesses should go to the North Devon+ website, which can be found on the internet. Please help with the survey it is relatively short and should only take two minutes of your time, and closes on September 1.

An interesting fact I was told about recently emerged from a recent analysis of Office for National Statistics data conducted by business insurance company Money. One of the factors considered was the five year survival rate of new businesses and low and behold the highest rate in the whole of the UK was in Torridge with a market leading rate of 55%. A testament to the resilience of our local entrepreneurs during recent testing times but maybe also to the support of organisations such as North Devon Plus.

Holsworthy show takes place this Thursday, August 24, so feel free to pop along to the Torridge stand at the show where you’ll be able to get advice and information on services and also a chance to meet a planner if you have any planning queries. I hope that everyone has a great show.

Written by Ken James, Leader of Torridge District Council