Devon County Councillors today agreed plans aimed at keeping all the Council's libraries open and run by professional staff, despite significant reductions in the service's budget.
Members heard that Councils elsewhere have successfully transferred the delivery of their libraries to ‘mutuals’ or ‘trusts’ who run the libraries on the Councils’ behalf.
And that library staff, previously employed by those Councils, have been retained and continue to professionally run their libraries, with local communities having a greater say in how their libraries are run.
If you are looking to grow your business, the locally based Business Doctors invite you to find out what steps to take and how to sustain that growth.
Two free ‘Breaking Big’ seminars, from noon till 2pm on Monday 13 October at the Woodbury Park Hotel, Exeter and from 7.30am to 10am on Tuesday 4th November at Boringdon Park Golf Club, Plymouth will show you how to review where your business is right now and decide where it should be going. Then you can start taking the right steps straight away to achieve breakthrough success.
Hundreds more schoolchildren will next week be given the opportunity to learn about where their food comes from by visiting The Tesco Eat Happy Project stand, adding to the 6,400 Devon-based children who have already enjoyed a Farm to Fork Trail in a local Tesco store.
The Tesco Eat Happy Project is delighted to be attending Farm Wise in Devon, an event being organised by Devon County Council to educate schoolchildren about the journey their food goes on and its nutritional content. The event takes place at the Westpoint Arena, Exeter on Tuesday 14 October 2014.
The Met Office has issued a severe weather warning of strong wind, with gusts of up to 60mph expected along exposed parts of the coast.
Forecasters say southwesterly winds will strengthen through this evening with gales expected overnight. Gusts are likely to reach 50mph quite widely, with 60mph gusts possible across exposed coasts and headlands. There will also be squally, thundery showers. Winds will then moderate through Thursday morning.
The warning is in place from 6pm until 9am tomorrow.
Forecasters have advised the public to be aware of the potential for some...
Greg Clark, Minister of University, Science and Cities, is opening the UK's only dedicated space weather forecast centre today.
The centre is a key milestone in the protection of the UK economy and infrastructure from the real threat of severe space weather events.
The Met Office Space Weather Centre, based at the Met Office's headquarters in Exeter, is the culmination of more than three years work to combine the space weather resources and scientific expertise of the UK and USA and was made possible by £4.6 million funding from Government.
Exeter politicians from all parties are braving a challenge to live for a whole day without electricity to help get people thinking about their energy use.
The Pull the Plug challenge is being organised by Exeter Community Energy (ECOE) and will see local councillors Rosie Denham and Adrian Fullam and parliamentary candidates Diana Moore and Dom Morris go a full day with no phone, car, TV, laptop – or indeed anything else with a current.
The challenge lasts for the whole of Sunday 12 October and ECOE want as many people as possible to take part.
One of Devon’s largest independent holiday parks is celebrating its busiest summer ever.
Ladram Bay Holiday Park, situated on the Jurassic coast between Sidmouth and Budleigh Salterton, saw nearly 6,000 holidaymakers stay in July and August.
The business, which has been in the same family for four generations since Devon farmer Bill Carter took on part of a small tenanted farm in 1942, had 7,640 people stay over the two summer months, with 1,800 bookings taken for a total of 15,300 ‘nights’. Revenue was up eight per cent on the same period last year.
With just one in five hate crimes being reported in Devon, local agencies say more needs to be done to encourage its victims to come forward.
Progress is being made to gain the trust of minority groups, and in raising awareness of hate crime, which is resulting in a rise in reporting to Police.
But under-reporting means that crimes against disabled or gay people or people of minority race for example are going unnoticed, leaving victims unsupported and perpetrators unchallenged.
Saturday 11 to the 18 October sees Devon Hate Crime Awareness Week, and the members of...
Katie Alexander is from Brixham and was last seen at Petitor Road in Torquay at around 9.40pm on Sunday 5 October.
Katie is white, of slim build, 5”2 tall, short straight red hair and has blue eyes.
She was believed to be wearing a white sweater, blue jeans, white and blue trainers with a red flash, and also possibly also carrying a pale grey hoodie.
Police are appealing to anyone who may have seen Katie or knows of her whereabouts to contact Police on 101, quoting reference 827 05/10/14.
Devon residents susceptible to the effects of flu because they have long term health conditions, are pregnant, 65 or over or live or work in a care home are being reminded to get their annual vaccination to protect them against the illness this winter.
Flu can be a serious illness, particularly for those in the ‘at risk’ groups, so Devon County Council’s Public Health team is reminding everyone who is eligible for vaccination to get their free flu jab from their GP early in the season. The vaccination is the most effective form of protection against flu.
