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November 2020 November 2020
 Encourage decarbonisation of road transport through development of The impact on the pool surface managed to extinguish most of the flames and
public Electric Vehicle charging network and promotion of ultra-low with the weight of the chains I quickly sank to the bottom. One of the problems of
emission vehicles the performance was that the on impact with the water, the chains rather
banged against me but no serious harm was done.
 Where feasible, replace Council vehicle fleet with electric and or Hydrogen
replacement. Once on the bottom, I managed to struggle out of the rope that tied my hands
and feet. Without giving too much of my secret away, my accomplices were very

careful in the way they tied the knots! The chains were then pulled aside and I
Budget Shortfall was ready for my big re-surface. It was at this point I decided to hold my breath a
little longer to build the tension with the spectators around the pool: twenty
Like many councils across seconds went and passed by, then 30 seconds. I was told later that on poolside
the country, Dorset Council the lifeguards were already stripping off as the tension gripped the audience.
has taken a big financial hit Forty seconds arrived and I was still relatively comfortable. At fifty seconds I
f r o m t h e C O VI D - 1 9 emerged from the sack and jack-knifed to the surface to a roar from the crowd.
pandemic. It is estimated
that the total impact on the A few minutes later a couple of small boys came up to me and actually asked
council’s budget is more me for my autograph, the only time in my life before or since.
than £60million due to Many years later in 1992, I was invited to attend the Barnstaple Swimming Club’s
additional expenditure and 60 . Anniversary Celebration Dinner. Diana and I were placed at a table with
th
lost income. After grants and reliefs from government for COVID-19, the net impact some of our friends and it was wonderful to talk about old times. As we
this financial year is currently around £41.9 million. Without further funding from approached our table we looked of course for our place names. I found mine
government, the council will be forced to use virtually all of its own reserves this soon enough and, yes it had to be “Houdini Holman”
year to cover the gap. Reserves can only be spent once so this will place
additional strain on future resilience and potentially leave the council unable to Bob Holman
fund changes in demand-led services in future. There are likely to be ongoing
budget pressures resulting from COVID-19, and this is on top of the continually
growing demand for adults and children’s social care as a result of our changing BERE REGIS.ORG WEBSITE STATISTICS
population.
There are many uncertainties making it hard to forecast the council’s financial Many villagers will be interested to know some facts
position over coming years, but the current best estimate is that the council will that have been collated by our Webmaster, Rodney
face a budget gap of £41.9m in 2021/22. Work is underway to close the budget Osmond.
gap in the next financial year. The council has identified £11.9million of tactical
savings, and a potential £8.2million of transformation savings, i.e. changing the The Bere Regis Magazine downloads are now
way it delivers services. At this stage, this still leaves a budget gap of £21.8million reaching over 140 every month all over the world,
so further work is required to be able to present a balanced budget proposal for very popular. There are over 3,000 page views every
full council to consider in February 2021. month and the most viewed webpage for September
is Ongoing Development of Mays Wood, followed by

 The Turberville Family 1202 - 1780
Office space  Walks around Bere Regis

There has been speculation as to our plans for office space, particularly existing  The history of Woodbury Hill Fair
buildings. This has nothing to do with employees working from home because of  Bere Regis Buses
coronavirus and it all started long before the pandemic hit. After Dorset Council 
came into being in April 2019, we started to look at our properties to see if we Bere Regis Industries
could reduce our estate and make better uses of the spaces we have.  Bere Regis Marriages
 Bere Regis Baptisms
Dorset Council is working out what it does with its assets. Dorset inherited about
 Bere Regis Burials 1536 - 1943

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