Local News

Public Consultation Opens on Proposed Merger Between Exeter College and Petroc

Exeter College and Petroc have today launched a public consultation on a proposed merger that would see two Devon colleges come together to form a new College Group.

If approved, the new organisation, the Exeter and North Devon Colleges Group (ENDC), would serve more than 16,000 learners across Devon, employ nearly 2,000 staff and have a combined turnover exceeding £100 million.

The proposal is a voluntary merger, with neither college in any form of intervention. By combining their resources and expertise, the Colleges aim to create a stronger, more resilient group with...

Devon Sergeant’s diary reveals Somme horror

Authored by Mary Youlden
Posted: Thu, 08/25/2016 - 10:54am

The personal diary of Sergeant James Littler is being published online 100 years after he survived the fierce fighting at the Battle of the Somme on the National Army Museum’s commemorative website First World War in Focus.

Littler arrived on the Somme on 29 July 1916. Allied attacks had been launched on 1 July and continued into mid-November, but with German counter attacks the offensive eventually included 12 separate battles. These battles often went on for weeks at a time and Littler recorded how the men awaited their fate in a ‘hell-hole’.

After four and a half months...

Riding for refugees fundraiser in Exeter

Authored by News Desk
Posted: Thu, 08/25/2016 - 8:24am

The refugee crisis has become huge as of late: Around the world there have been many different situations that have forced the local populous to pick up and move, leaving most of their belongings and their former life at home.

These people range from different countries across the globe, most of which are war torn, and those who have become dispossessed include men, women and children.

This has been met with support for those placed in the harshest of situations. Charities have responded to this in Aid of these people, offering funding through fundraisers in order to fund...

Bridge Road in Exeter to close overnight

Bridge Road in Exeter will be closed from 10pm tonight (Thursday) until 5am tomorrow morning (Friday 26 August) while changes are made to the traffic layout.

From Friday morning, the two traffic lanes will be running on the east (downstream) side of Bridge Road between Glasshouse Lane and the South West Water Treatment Works access road, to enable work to start on the upstream area. Pedestrians and cyclists will be able to use a safe new route formed behind barriers on what is currently road surface.

If you are approaching the area for the first time after this change,...

Trust holds successful research and development symposium

Authored by News Desk
Posted: Thu, 08/25/2016 - 6:42am

Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust (NDHT) recently held its second annual symposium to highlight research and development successes across the Trust.

People from all over the South West attended the event which was held at the Barnstaple Hotel. The day included a number of speakers who highlighted some of the varied research and development work being done across the region. Topics included older women: the hidden victims of abuse, being a clinical investigator in the South West, and how to embed patient and public involvement and engagement research in an acute hospital setting...

Two calls every hour to deal with animals struggling in the heat

The RSPCA has urged pet owners and farmers to keep their animals cool in the summer heat as temperatures rocket to 30C in some parts of England and Wales this week.

The animal welfare charity is issuing advice after a surge in calls relating to animals and heat exposure last month. The charity’s 24-hour emergency line received 1,606 calls in July - that’s two every hour or more than 50 a day - from concerned members of the public reporting dogs shut in hot vehicles, farm animals out in the heat, and horses without shade.

There have been more than 5,700 calls so far this...

Lloyds Bank to close Colyton branch

The news that Lloyds Bank has confirmed the closure of its Colyton branch for good on 12 October 2016 is a bitter blow to the local community, as well as businesses in and around the town, says East Devon District Council Chairman, Councillor Stuart Hughes, who is hugely disappointed with the bank’s refusal to reconsider its decision.

“I am extremely unhappy that the Lloyds Banking Group has refused to listen to its loyal Colyton customers and that it has chosen to proceed with the closure of this much valued local facility. I fear that Colyton’s prosperity will suffer as a...

Police search Exminster house after man arrested under Terrorism Act

Authored by News Desk
Posted: Wed, 08/24/2016 - 5:38pm

Police are searching a house in Exminster and nearby woods as part of a counter terrorism operation.

A 30-year-old man was arrested in Somerset today [24 August] on suspicion of terrorism offences.

He was arrested at 12.20pm by officers from the Metropolitan Police Service’s Counter Terrorism Command (SO15), supported by colleagues from Avon and Somerset and Devon and Cornwall Police, on suspicion of being involved in the preparation for acts of terrorism under section 5 of the Terrorism Act.

A police spokesperson said: "Today’s arrest was pre-planned and...

Devon heathland bounces back

The return of grazing livestock after a gap of many decades has put a rare Mid Devon landscape firmly on the road to recovery.

The change is just one of many made by the charity Devon Wildlife Trust to its Clayhidon Turbary nature reserve after winning support of more than £34,000 from Biffa Award - a multi-million pound fund which awards grants to community and environmental projects across the UK.

Devon Wildlife Trust’s Clayhidon Turbary nature reserve forms part of the Blackdown Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Its 13 hectares were once a heathland and open...

TechnoRhino visits RAMM

On Friday 26 August, an extraordinary high-tech 3D infographic rhino will be visiting the Indian botanical drawings in the Flower Power exhibition at Exeter’s Royal Albert Memorial Museum (RAMM).

From 10am to 5pm visitors will be able to see and interact with the rhino, find out how it was created and learn more about the plight of the world’s rhinos, one of the most endangered large mammals in the world.

Dubbed TechnoRhino, the dazzling artwork uses a medium-size rhino figure, data on wild population numbers and some very clever computing. One side of the fibre glass rhino...

Plans to protect Exeter's green spaces

Authored by News Desk
Posted: Wed, 08/24/2016 - 12:18pm

Plans for the possible transfer of management of some of Exeter’s best known public green spaces are to be discussed at the meeting of the Scrutiny Committee of Exeter City Council.

The meeting to be held on 8 September will consider a proposal that the long term management of parts of Riverside, Ludwell, Mincinglake, Duryard, Belvidere, Barley Valley and Whitycombe Way be transferred from Exeter City Council to the charity Devon Wildlife Trust.

Exeter City Council will continue to own the sites.

Cllr Rob Hannaford, Lead Councillor for Place, said communities and...

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