Plymstock Councillors Give Important Updates for February

January has been a busy month for the Dunstone Team. Some households in Plymstock would have already received their food waste recycling caddies with collections due to start in March.

Not all areas in Plymstock will take part in the first wave, other areas will be included in the phased roll out. I took the opportunity to find out more about food waste recycling and visited the Prince Rock Depot.

I have to say I was fascinated by the science behind food waste recycling and what the end product can be used for. Food waste will go through a process where microorganisms break down the waste producing nutrient rich fertiliser, biogas, heat and even electricity. Households who will be taking part in the first phase have been given clear guidance as to what can be put in the caddies. I don’t know why I was surprised but bones and meat carcasses can also be included!

Lots of areas throughout the country and the South West have already been recycling food waste and Plymouth has benefited from their knowledge and experiences. It’s reassuring the caddies are lockable preventing wildlife accessing the waste. There will be opportunities for community engagement with the food recycling team.

I attended the council’s Holocaust Memorial event on Holocaust Memorial Day. The theme for 2026 was ‘Bridging Generations.’ The theme encourages us all to engage actively with the past, to listen, to learn and to carry those lessons forward. In doing so, we can build the bridge between history and hope for the future to ensure this never happens again. It was a very moving and thought-provoking ceremony delivered compassionately by local participants and schools. A time to reflect with songs, memories, talks and poetry, reminding us that we all have an important role to play in building a kinder and more compassionate future. I would actively encourage residents to watch the event on the Council’s YouTube.

I will leave you with the words of Solly Irving, a Holocaust survivor who said: “When you go out into the world, try to be friends with people, especially those who appear to be different; talk to them and respect them even though their beliefs may be different. After all, we are all part of the same human family, aren’t we? Try to create a better world than the one I had to endure.”

Plymouth City Council recently announced the opening of the first council-owned residential care home situated in Plymstock Radford ward. A lot of hard work has gone into making this happen and I’m proud to support it as a member of the Corporate Parenting Board. I want to share an extract from my letter to residents who will be living nearby to explain my reasons why:

As a councillor, I’m a corporate parent. This means I share responsibility for ensuring that children in our care are safe, supported, and given the same opportunities as any other child to thrive. My view is very simple; every child deserves to have a home. This development is an important step in ensuring that Plymouth’s children can be cared for in safe, nurturing homes within their own city.

I’m proud that our community will play a part in offering stability and support to children and young people who need it most. This home will provide short-term care for a small number of children and young people, helping them through a difficult time and supporting them back into family-based settings.

Similar homes will be opening across Plymouth as part of our commitment to improving care for local children. This initiative aims to reduce Plymouth City Council’s reliance on expensive private children’s home provision. In 2024, the average cost of a children’s social care placement in Plymouth was £6,700 a week – or a staggering £329,000 a year. So, this isn’t just the right thing to do by our children in care, but also by Plymouth’s council taxpayers.”

I understand that changes in the community can raise questions, so please don’t hesitate to contact me directly.

Councillors Lawson, Krizanac and I recently had the pleasure of meeting with Caroline Granville, headteacher of Coombe Dean School in Elburton.

As we were waiting in the main entrance, students voluntarily chatted to us politely in an engaging manner and they were not planted there!

It was heartening to see the pride in the headteacher’s face when she talked about her students, staff and the wider school community. Caroline has taught at the school, and become the school’s first female headteacher, since the current sixth formers entered this world.

We discussed pressures on the school’s admissions as the school is one of two popular Plymstock secondary schools, and Coombe Dean’s historical city-wide admissions scheme means potential students living two or three miles beyond the city’s boundary in Devon may not be admitted.

The school is rightly proud of the care it offers some of their most vulnerable students such as the ‘We Care’ group that includes children in care, young people who are part of military families and those who have been affected by bereavement; the ‘B Group.’ Caroline has a hands-on involvement in these groups to support their pastoral needs.

During this conversation, she also praised the improved support and advice offered to schools by Plymouth City Council to support and provide for young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities, which Cllr Krizanac was pleased to share in Full Council.

We were pleased to inform the school that we had arranged what we had already done for Plymstock School, by allocating some of our community grants to support the ‘We Care’ group’s activity and sponsor an Outstanding Community Student award.

We also chatted with Caroline about concerns some local residents have raised with us about road safety fears on Wembury Road and parking in some roads around the school on the Charnhill Estate. Our next visit to Coombe Dean will be to meet the School Senate, made up of older students to learn about what matters to them.

We ended the special visit by receiving some homework from the headteacher – to investigate options of funding from external sources to further support the school’s provision of high quality education and care.

For councillors across the city, casework continues. It has been a busy three month spell for our Highways teams dealing with excessive rain and a couple of icy days and nights.

I have reported a number of road defects to the Highways department on residents’ behalf.

Grit bins are located across the city, following last year’s strategic review of grit bins. This involved officers seeking the views of ward councillors. The provision of bins will be reviewed, as usual, before next winter, e.g. checking if any location meet the criteria for a bin and to review this winter’s performance.

For residents in Sherford, we were informed at the recent Consortium liaison meeting that a map showing the location of newly introduced grit bins will be on display on the community noticeboards and on the Sherford Consortium website.

It would not be a councillor article if I did not take this chance to remind residents to park considerately around the area, noting that double yellow lines, crossing zig-zag marks and signs are positioned for a reason – to keep people safe in various locations. Have a safe and wise month!