Local News

Police have arrested a 32 year-old man in a firearm incident after a nearly four hour long standoff in Barnstaple last night (2 December). The man was threatening to harm himself and anyone who might approach him on Castle Street from around 4.00pm Police cordoned off the area closing down the Strand and the surrounding area in Barnstaple to ensure the safety of all parties. The man surrendered after a successful police negotiation and was arrested at 7:45pm. The police would like to thank the local community for their cooperation and patience during the period the cordon was in place....

Tiny bits of plastic rubbish could spell big trouble for marine life, starting with the worms, say a team of researchers from the University of Exeter and Plymouth University who report their evidence in a pair of studies in the Cell Press journal Current Biology. The marine worms play a key ecological role as an important source of food for other animals. Work by Stephanie Wright from the University of Exeter found that if ocean sediments are heavily contaminated with microplastics, marine lugworms eat less and their energy levels suffer. A separate report, from Mark Anthony Browne on...

Neil Parish, MP for Tiverton and Honiton, has pledged his support for Halve It, a national coalition campaign that aims to halve late diagnosis and undiagnosed HIV in the UK by 2015.

At the Halve It World AIDS Day parliamentary drop-in session on the 27 November, Neil met with key members of the campaign’s steering group, including leading HIV clinicians, and CEOs of patient and policy organisations. He discussed with them Halve It’s aims and achievements to date, and the campaign’s compelling case for HIV to remain a public health priority in the UK. The event, which marked the...

Devon County Council is exploring a number of options to reduce its highways and traffic management budget by almost £7 million.

As part of the County Council’s latest Tough Choices consultation, which was launched in September, Devon is considering how to cut spending in 2014/15.

A number of highways budget proposals were put forward on the Tough Choices website last month, inviting comment from members of the public. This is ahead of more extensive public consultation in the new year, when further choices will need to be considered to help meet deeper spending cuts over...