Local News

Changes in government guidance on what councils can ask small developers to pay for community benefits are set to hit the provision of open spaces, sports and play areas and even education upgrades in East Devon.

Until recently, anyone who wanted to build an estate of new homes was required to offset the impact the new households would have on existing amenities by making a ‘Section 106’ financial contribution towards improvements.

But changes announced by the Government at the beginning of December mean that East Devon District Council and other affected planning...

You can hear the sound of former bustling coral reefs dying due to the impact of human activity, according to new research from the Universities of Exeter and Essex .

Coral reefs are amongst the noisiest environments on our planet and healthy reefs can be heard using underwater microphones from kilometres away.

However, scientists have found that coral reefs impacted by human activity, such as overfishing, are much quieter than protected reefs, and this can have a big impact on the fish and invertebrates which rely on the reefs for survival.

Led by Dr Julius Piercy...

SNUG is a charitable organisation that supports Devon based Neonatal families and works closely with staff from the RD&E’s Neonatal Unit.

The party was held in the Centre for Women’s Health, where staff from the Neonatal unit were able to catch up with babies and their parents who have now left the unit to see how they are getting on.

The babies enjoyed some Christmas games and the opportunity to meet Santa, whilst their mums chatted over coffee and cake. They also had a chance to enter the Christmas hamper raffle, the contents of which had been kindly donated by local...

DNA from a rare specimen of an extinct mammal will be sampled, Jurassic Park style at the Ark, the Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery’s archive.

Although, unlike in the film, the technology doesn't yet exist to bring the animal back to life, the DNA will be important for a research project into the species. Until the two Swan Island hutia were brought to light at RAMM, researcher Roseina Woods had just 12 specimens in the UK to work on. The collection at the Natural History Museum in London, was thought to contain the only remaining examples in the country. The animals...