Hustings for the County Council elections will be held on Thursday 27th April at Exeter Community Centre at 7 pm
Hilary Whyard will represent the Labour candidates, Anne Jobson the Conservatives, Diana Moore the Green Party and Vanessa Newcombe the Liberal Democrats.
Questions can be submitted in advance via Jess Nightly at fairandsustainable3@gmail.com and will have a better chance of being asked. However some questions will be taken from the audience.
County elections are on May 4th; in view of the General Election on June 8th national policy issues may also be...
Devon County Council is set to record a balanced budget for the 26th year in succession.
County Treasurer Mary Davis said the budget was projected to be in surplus when the financial year ended in four weeks time.
But she warned: “Caution should be taken when looking at this position as there is still time for storm events and winter emergencies to occur.”
Mrs Davis told the Cabinet today that there was likely to be an overspend in adult social care as a result of increased costs in residential and nursing homes and a rise in demand. The number of packages of care...
An additional £4.6 million has been added to Devon County Council’s budget for transport improvements for the coming financial year.
This was approved by the County Council’s Cabinet today (Wednesday 8 March) to add to a £24.5 million package of schemes for its Transport Capital programme for 2017/18. The additional funding includes £4 million from the National Productivity Fund grant. £2 million of these funds will be used to enable the first phase delivery of the Tiverton Eastern Urban Extension A361 junction, which will unlock over 1,000 dwellings. £1 million will also see work...
A Mid Devon primary has improved so much that every aspect of school life is now rated good or better.
And a new report by independent education inspectors from the school standards agency, Ofsted, says Two Moors Primary in Tiverton is well placed to get even better.
Two years ago Ofsted told Two Moors that it required improvements.
Now, following a two-day inspection, Ofsted says that the school is good across the board.
Inspectors rated its overall effectiveness as good along with the effectiveness of the leadership and management, the quality of teaching...
In the last few weeks there has been news of some major changes to school funding which will have a significant impact on schools in Exeter. The first of these was the prediction in late December by the National Audit Office that overall schools in England would suffer a real-terms cut of 8% by 2020.
At the same time the government set out its plans for a new National Funding Formula to provide money to schools in a fairer way, intended to end what has been described as a postcode lottery. Under the present system on an annual basis Devon gets £270 per pupil less than the national...
Rural businesses in Mid and East Devon are being reminded that they can still apply for funding through a special support programme.
Devon County Council is overseeing the £1.2 million LEADER REAL Devon grant which aims to support the rural economy and create jobs. The programme is EU funded, but the County Council is reassuring businesses that the funding is still available over the next two years.
Among those to have successfully received funding so far is Planet Play SW Ltd, a new children’s soft play centre and café in Crediton, which opened recently having received £18...
Devon County Council’s Cabinet (Wednesday 14 December) agreed to propose a preferred route to government for a £180 million improvement scheme for the A30.
Councillors approved recommendations to put the “Orange Route”, as modified through consultation, to the Secretary of State as the preferred route, for his view and potential implementation.
It follows a public consultation throughout August and September during which the County Council presented three route options (Orange Route, Blue North and Blue South), to improve the A30 between Honiton and Devonshire Inn. More...
Plans for a near £1 million flood improvement scheme in East Devon have been approved by Devon County Council’s Cabinet.
Councillors today (Wednesday 14 December) agreed to increase the budget for the scheme which will improve flood protection for properties at Axminster Millbrook.
Over 40 properties were flooded in Axminster during severe storms in 2012, with The Cricketers and Willhay Lane the main areas affected.
An ongoing flood risk remains for over 160 properties, but this would be significantly reduced by the County Council scheme, which would improve the...
Devon County Council is calling for a pause in planned cuts to hospital services across the county.
There has been widespread public opposition to the cuts to acute and hospital beds proposed to head off a multi-million deficit in health services.
Now Devon County Council is calling on the Government and NHS England to provide fair funding for health services in Devon.
Councillors agreed today that until health services in Devon are properly funded it was not possible to judge what the deficit was and if any action was needed to balance the books.
Devon County Council has given a cautious welcome to a Government funding announcement (on Monday 28 November) for road repairs saying that it still only “scratches the surface”.
The Department for Transport has announced a £70 million allocation from the Pothole Action Fund in 2017/18. This is part of the £250 million over five years which the Government announced for its Pothole Action Fund last year.
Devon will receive £3.192 million in the next financial year, which the DfT calculates is enough to repair 60,200 potholes.
