Community Natter Feedback Report

TQ6 Community Partnership and Dartmouth Community Chest held the annual January Winter Warmer natter in Townstal, warm food, a lot of chatter and ending with a raffle, and it felt like everyone was a winner. There was certainly a buzz.

The natters are a regular get together where the TQ6 community and services share the space to focus on what’s good and what’s not so good about where they live. It’s a chance to make a list of priorities.

Meeting with the local residents were councillors (town and district) Livewest Housing, Police, Public Health, C2 Connecting Communities and Exeter University Public Health students. Outside pizzas were being made by Dough Bros. Inside problems were be discussed together. So armed with plenty of post-its here is what people said:

What do we love about living here?

What could be better?

Themes were collected and priorities made. Below we have themed and listed  every one of your post-it notes.

This is what you said:

Travel, transport and getting around :

• Limited public transport
• Lack of parking for locals
• Parking is an issue for us locals
• Difficult to get in and out of the town
• Lack of buses on a Sunday
• Move buses to and from the outlying areas on the villages such as Norton park stoke Fleming and Totnes
• Trouble with potholes transport public and otherwise to get to any appointment for health
• Limited parking
• Bus travel out of town bus stops and timing of buses often too early or not late enough
• Transport links all limited unexpensive
• Parking is a problem
• Buses breakdown frequently
• Transport issues particularly bus services especially in the nearby towns relating to hospital appointments
• Lack of clarity regarding bus services
• Would like to see better buses
• Bus services is wanting
• Buses don’t turn up so me and my toddler often stuck out in the rain
• Better parking
• Bus service isn’t very good limited on expensive
• Bus service is the problem no regular bus drivers so we have people who don’t know the roads or the people who use the buses
• Move parking freedom needed not enough camper van overnight parking
• Transport links are really weak here
• Travelling outside Dartmouth is the problem
• The ferry is expensive
• Buses are irregular
• More public transport from my village
• Would like to see more bike lanes

Roads, pavements and our environment

• Uneven pavement, no repairs to pavement
• Pavement’s uneven
• Potholes
• Potholes
• Trouble with potholes transport public and otherwise to get to any appointment for health
• Dirty roads, no road cleaner anymore
• Overhanging hedges and trees no one maintains things anymore
• Weeds and prickles all over the new road
• Stench of the drains in downtown Dartmouth in the summertime
• Issues with dog poo
• More dog poop bins

Parking and disabled access

• Lack of disabled parking
• Limited disabled parking
• Disabled parking is a problem
• Parking charges too high
• Consider a permit for local people to use if a friend can give them a lift to places parking is very expensive and limited

Housing and the Cost of Living

• Affordable rental homes
• Priced out of our own town
• affordable homes are an issue definition of affordable is not what affordability it looks like to us
• No housing for us
• Expensive time to live in, nothing affordable for locals
• Priced out
• Too expensive to live here for local people
• Affordable housing that we can really afford
• Lack of affordable housing
• Lack of social housing for local people
• New houses built are not affordable for us
• Hope to move to a more suitable home overcrowded at present
• Housing repairs take too long with the social housing people
• Live West housing are not very good – except for Charlotte

Health Services lack of accessible care

• Lack of doctor’s appointments
• NHS routine appointments in emergency no longer anywhere near
• Lack of affordable dentist,  lack of NHS dentists
• Lack of dentists
• Lack of dentists
• Lack of dentist
• Lack of dentist can else get rid of it
• Lack of NHS dentists can’t afford the private ones
• Too long to wait to see a GP or any health appointments
• GP it’s hard to get appointments
• Doctor surgery is hard to reach
• Lack of communication from the medical practise and the GP’s
• Limited availability of doctor appointments since then you build at the top
• Where is the local ex miss machine that Dartmouth league of friends paid for from the closed down hospital
• No minor injury unit or X-ray department Dartmouth closes at 8:00 PM access to Torbay hospital is very difficult if you don’t have a car or if you’re using public transport
• Access to key services-no necessarily here so how do you get there on time and forward it I to the hospital in the nearby times

Mental Health & Support Services

• Mental health services lacking
• No mental health services
• Animal therapy or animal places for people to be able to go to for mental health
• No face to face domestic violence support
• Accessible help and support groups
• Improve local social care my experience is very mixed
• Legal help support we need solicitors and family law support even if it’s extending into Plymouth Exeter & Torbay but there is nothing

Community groups and social activities

• The cost of local clubs and societies good for mental and physical health for example leisure centre costs
• Lack of groups and clubs during the week that are aimed at us for the interest we have or that we feel welcome to
• Would like to see more clubs
• The availability of local clubs and societies that are apparently good for mental health but we can’t afford them
• A lot of baby groups have shut down
• Not enough baby and toddler groups
• We don’t have enough we don’t have baby and toddler groups
• Nothing for kids
• More free activities to take children to
• Our village needs a skate park for the children
• Play equipment has been removed and not replaced
• [comments from young person]: like to see local gymnastics club soft play more clubs things to do better skate park better buses Pelican crossings roads in town still that are maintained

Community Spaces and places

• Not enough of the right green space in town, still limited
• Not enough places like allotments to enable people to grow their own food and in turn connect and build relationships
• We need a warm space in my village for everyone to access so we can be warm play Reed jigsaws colouring ETC
• Lack of funding for libraries
• Local family hub shut down

Local economy and shops

• We had a Poundland we no longer have a Poundland
• No shops for locals
• No clothes shops or shoe shops in town for children
• Too many arty farty shops
• No useful shops with reasonable prices it’s full of designer clothes or pound shop just shut down
• No cheap shops like home bargains B&M Poundland
• No cheap shops
• Lack of takeaways
• You don’t have many takeaways

Employment & Opportunities

• Limited job opportunities as it always involved as it usually involves travel elsewhere for decent paid work and for that you need a car so people who don’t have a car or incredibly limited and haven’t got the same opportunities
• no future for the youth, they need career options guidance etc

Anti Social Behaviour

• Drugs particular the smell of weed and cigarettes in buildings
• There are lots of drugs and people taking drugs here
• Lack of police

Service, communication and Information

• Lack of clear communication from services – feels hidden from view
• Cost of living knowing who to call for help
• Can’t get to see a housing officer

Locals versus Tourism

• Too much focus on tourist people rather than locals
• Regatta too many people too expensive nothing there for locals
• Not enough for access for our community to events like the music festival etc because for us locals its too expensive it costs silly money for things like drinks /food

Digital Access

• Dartmouth has an Internet signal black hole
• limited Wi-Fi in communal living / flats
• Everything seems to need digital access

By bringing us all together we can start the process of working through some of these local issues together to try and make things better.

The TQ6 Community Partnership strives for collaboration through shared values and ways of working that focus on supporting the community to lead their own change, with services in a supportive capacity for mutual benefit.