Councillors at Devon County Council have voted in favour of reconsidering the decision to close the authority's three children’s homes at a special scrutiny meeting. The now over-turned decision to close the homes was made following a review which concluded last month and will be discussed at a council meeting on Wdnesday.

The review of the homes, launched in January, was started in light of new regulations from Ofsted which indicated that any children’s home with more than three places will be unable to qualify for a good or better rating in future. An alternative proposal for the...

A key focus of this year’s budget is likely to be pensions and the increasing demand for reform in the annuity market. Nick Fitzgerald, head of financial planning, said, “We are always busy with pensions in the approach to the end of the financial year, but this year we have not noticed a discernible increase above the usual, of clients rushing to top up their pension pots.

“The world of pensions is increasingly less certain with a loss of trust in the stability of the regime. Over recent years we have seen a constant nibbling away at the incentives to save; reducing lifetime...

With spring finally pushing through the last remnants of winter, St Paul’s Church in Honiton is set to play host to a Spring Violin Recital on Wednesday 19 March at 7.30pm.

The event, sponsored by Gilbert Stephens Solicitors, will feature Devon violinist Marie Langrishe. Marie is 19 and lives near Honiton. She started learning the violin aged 7, and continued musical studies whilst studying at Maynard School in Exeter, where she led both the school orchestras and the school quartet for a number of years.

During this time she gained Distinction in her Grade 8 violin, played...

Over 80 people attended the Southernhay Breakfast Club on Friday 7 March – a joint event ran by Kirk Hills Chartered Accountants and Beckworth Independent Financial Advisers.

The first meeting of 2014, held at the Southgate Hotel, saw guest speaker Karime Hassan, Chief Executive and Growth Director of Exeter City Council, give an overview of what is happening in Exeter.

Adrian Hills from Kirk Hills commented, “it was great that Karime was able to join us for this event, to explain more about the exciting developments that are taking place in our city. He is a very engaging...

It was another home disappointment for Exeter City as they went down 1-0 at St James Park to fellow strugglers Northampton Town.

Chris Wilder’s side scored the game’s only goal in the second half through a well-taken finish by substitute Ian Morris, the Irishman’s first touch since coming on.

Exeter City manager Paul Tisdale named a completely unchanged starting line-up to face Chris Wilder’s Northampton Town tonight at St James Park.

Both the Grecians’ starting XI and the bench looked the same as they were for Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Dagenham & Redbridge, and...

Stagecoach South West has confirmed that it would, until further notice, continue with the special fare arrangements originally put in place to help those affected by the closure of the Dawlish railway line.

This means customers travelling on its Hop2, Hop11 and B bus services will continue to benefit from reduced single and return fares of up to 50% for all stops along the coast between Starcross and Newton Abbot.

The changes to the operator’s multi-journey ticket zones will also remain in place, namely the Exeter Plus Dayrider and Megarider zone extension to Dawlish and...

I had been promising my 10-year-old son Sam a trip to Devon’s Crealy Great Adventure Park as soon as the wet weather disappeared. So, with the promise of a dry weekend on the cards and with the recent opening of new attraction The Lost World of Atlantis, last weekend was the perfect time to head for Devon’s greatest adventure park!

Sam and I have been fairly regular visitors to Crealy over the years and it never fails to amaze me how much the park grows each year.

This year is certainly no exception as Crealy is celebrating its 25th birthday, and to mark the anniversary...

The South Devon Link Road project team has announced the introduction of a new speed limit on the Penn Inn area of the construction site.

New speed limits will come into effect on the A380 Besigheim Way, north of the Penn Inn roundabout, from Friday (14 March).

The new limits are being set to ensure the safety of road users and South Devon Link Road employees working on the new north approach to the Penn Inn flyover.

From Friday, northbound vehicles leaving the roundabout towards Exeter will enter a new 30mph zone alongside the works area of contractors Galliford...

Primary school pupils across Devon have been bravely examining the rubbish produced by their packed lunches over the past few weeks in readiness of the County-wide “Waste Free Lunch” week campaign from 10th – 14th March.

Donning gloves, and with strong stomachs, children have been weighing waste, sorting snacks and picking out packaging from the mountain of rubbish generated every day after lunch time.

The aim of the campaign is to reduce the amount of waste produced by packed lunches in schools, and to share innovative ideas for packing “waste free” lunches with pupils,...

Marks & Spencer (M&S) Exeter employees are descending on Exmouth beach to free it from litter as part of this year’s Big Beach Clean-up. Taking place on Friday 25 April from 10am, the Big Beach Clean-up is hosted in partnership with the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) and invites local residents to join in the litter picking activities. Customers that register for the event in advance at www.mcsuk.org/foreverfish will also receive a money-off M&S voucher on the day of their beach clean. 95 UK beaches and 45 canals across the UK will be targeted between 24 and 30 April with...