Devon and Cornwall’s Police and Crime Commissioner Tony Hogg will today (Wednesday 5 March) sit down with major supermarkets and retailers to discuss the availability of cheap alcohol and the impact it has on crime and disorder. Partly due to the rise in cheap supermarket deals, alcohol is now 45% more affordable than it was in the 1980s, which experts say has lead to a major change in how people drink socially- most notably through the relatively new practice of ‘pre-drinking’ or ‘pre-loading’.
The growing prevelence of 'pre-loading', the practice of drinking heavily before...
A Devon-wide project which hopes to save the NHS time and money while ensuring patient safety has been shortlisted for a national award The scheme simplifies the process under which trained staff such as nurses or pharmacists can give medicines or vaccinations without the need for a GP prescription.
Until now, there have been a whole range of different processes (known as Patient Group Directions) across Devon – 17 for vaccinations alone. But these have been replaced by a single working framework for clinicians, pharmacists and NHS managers to use when writing these documents....
Fire services in the south west have joined together to identify the seven fatal factors that link most home fire deaths in the region. The report has been compiled using research data from a total of 88 deaths from 2008 to 2013.
The results show that there are seven common factors in most house fires resulting in death
The seven most common linking factors include: living alone, poor mental health and limited mobility as well as smoking, alcohol, poor housekeeping and use of both prescription or illegal drugs. Station Manager Andy Justice, Fire Investigation Manager for...
Despite the recent storms Seaton is going from strength to strength with the prospect of some very exciting initiatives coming to fruition over the coming months. The overriding message from all the organisations involved in the regeneration of the town in their meeting this week was that Seaton is very much open for business and looking forward to a busy year ahead.
The Seaton Regeneration Programme Board heard positive updates from a number of projects including Seaton Jurassic, the new visitor centre; the Town Development Team; Seaton workshops; and the Axe Wetlands.
The Exeter office of Brewin Dolphin, one of the UK’s largest independently-owned private client wealth managers, has expanded significantly in the last two years bringing in two new trainee investment managers; Kelly Harkins and James Osborne. Both are looking to develop their careers in Exeter and are keen to boost the development of the Exeter office.
Kelly (24) passed the second of three Masters in Wealth Management papers, Portfolio Construction Theory, while James (25) passed the Private Client Advice paper to move onto the second. Both Kelly and James were awarded a merit,...
School leaders in Devon have renewed their campaign for fair funding for education today in a letter to Secretary of State for Education Michael Gove. The letter from Devon County Council’s Cabinet member for schools, Will Mumford, and the chairman of the Devon Association of Primary Heads, Martyn Boxall calls on Mr Gove to speed up the introduction of a fairer national funding system. Currently Devon schools are sixth from bottom of 152 education authorities for Government funding means every pupil in the county is worth nearly £500 less than the average child nationally. “We’re finding...
Farmland prices in the South West hit yet another record high during the final six months of 2013, having jumped around seven percent in the space of a year, says the latest RICS/RAU Rural Land Market Survey H2 2013.
During the second half of last year, the average cost of farmland in the region rose to £7,763 per acre, hitting a record high for the eighth consecutive period. The cost of land is now seven percent higher than during the same period in 2012 when an acre cost, on average, just under £7,250.
Growth in prices has been driven by the on-going surge in demand from...
The first water reed to be harvested in Devon in 25 years has been cut by scythe on reed beds opposite Topsham on the Exe estuary. Scythe practitioner, Chris Riley spent a labour intensive week harvesting just over an acre of water reed, which can reach up to 10ft high. “Water reed is an untapped resource, because of its inaccessibility and the manual labour involved in cutting it.”
Chris encourages the resurgence of scythe use: “It’s so important to keep rural skills alive and there aren’t many people with the skill and energy to harvest large areas of reed with a scythe.” For...
Around 100 people from community groups from attended a meeting in Exeter last night to discuss the future of the city’s parks and open spaces in the face of further government cuts to council funding. The meeting held at the Corn Exchange was called by Exeter City Council in response to a 13.6% cut in government funding for 2014/15, which is expected to be followed by further cuts to total £5m in the next three years. The cuts mean that Exeter City Council may not have the funding to run the city’s parks and open spaces in the future so is looking for volunteers and buyers to step forward...
The South West Coast Path is inviting businesses to partner with the charity during 2014 to deliver some vital path improvements and protect this great tourism asset.
Recent research has showed that during 2012 the Coast Path had 8.6 million users across the South West which have generated around £436m to the area, an increase of almost 15% in the past three years - helping support 9,771 full-time equivalent jobs.
Recognised as one of the UK’s favourite walks with a reputation as being among the greatest long distance hikes in the world.
