Local News

A record number of Devon students are expected at this year’s Waste Summit, which takes place later this month.

Around 100 pupils from eight secondary schools are due to attend the 13th annual Waste Summit which will be held at County Hall on Thursday 26 March.

This free event is part of Devon County Council’s waste education programme and is aimed at Devon’s Secondary Schools to increase students’ awareness of the impacts of wasting resources. This year’s summit will explore everything from materials for mobile phones and the role of energy from waste plants.

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New research has discredited the popular belief that street lighting is attractive to common bats.

The study, carried out by scientists from the University of Exeter and Bat Conservation Ireland, found that bat activity was generally lower in street-lit areas than in dark locations with similar habitat.

The findings have important implications for conservation, overturning the previous assumption that common bats benefited from street-lights because they could feed on the insects that congregated around them.

The research, published in the journal Philosophical...

Stagecoach bus employees have topped a global eco-driver performance scheme which measures fuel-efficient driving.

More than 4,100 Stagecoach drivers have been awarded Fleet Elite status under the programme managed by GreenRoad, whose telematics system serves professional drivers in the UK, Ireland, Europe, the Middle East, America, Australia and New Zealand.

Of the Stagecoach drivers who reached Fleet Elite standard, 179 were from Stagecoach South West.

Over 1,000 of Stagecoach’s Fleet Elite drivers have achieved the Gold badge for consistently maintaining the...

A team of accountants swapped their books for Wellington boots when they paid a visit to their newly-adopted charity.

Exeter-based Sidaways were given a VIP tour of Farms For City Children at Nethercott House, near Iddesleigh.

The firm of chartered accountants is to focus on raising money for Devon-based charity Farms for City Children as part of the company’s 25th anniversary celebrations. The trip was arranged so the business could see where the money it raises will be spent.

Children’s author Michael Morpurgo and his wife Clare founded Farms for City Children in...