Preparations are well underway to help ensure Exeter city centre is safe and welcoming when many stores reopen their doors next week.
On Monday 15 June non-essential retailers will be allowed to reopen for the first time since the end of March, once they have completed a risk assessment. Hospitality businesses like cafes and restaurants can reopen from 4 July.
Temporary and permanent measures and changes are required to ensure the city centre remains a vibrant place to live, work, socialise, visit, shop and work.
Work to make safe a number of trees affected by Ash Dieback disease in Exeter is set to take place over the coming months.
The City Council is currently surveying the health of Ash trees on its land across the city and early signs are not good.
It is estimated that the UK will lose up to 90% of its ash trees over the coming months and years.
In Exeter, the fungal disease has already taken its toll and the Council says it needs to start removing several trees which represent a risk to public safety. A programme of replacement tree planting will continue to be...
Two refuse and recycling workers who went to the aid of a deer that had become trapped behind a bottle bank have been recognised by a leading animal rights charity.
Jason Blackmore and Neil Baker, who work for Exeter City Council, have been awarded PETA’s prestigious Hero to Animal Award in honour.
The big-hearted duo didn’t hesitate to act after they were alerted to the animal’s misfortune while emptying household rubbish bins in the St Thomas part of the city.
The pair leapt into action and managed to free the deer which had somehow managed to get trapped...
People are being encouraged to support local businesses during the coronavirus outbreak.
A new campaign – Stronger Together – has been launched encouraging people, including businesses to buy local and support local businesses. To get the campaign running, people are being encouraged to create and share a short ten-second video clip about a local business they love.
Exeter City Council is backing the campaign and has linked up with a number of organisations and businesses to form the Stronger Exeter taskforce. The campaign comes as the government announced that shops and...
A Wellbeing Support Fund has been launched in Exeter to support people who find themselves in financial difficulty due to the Coronavirus outbreak.
The scheme has been launched by Exeter City Council, with funding being provided by Devon County Council’s COVID19 Hardship Support Grant, to help individuals who are unable to access support from any other local or national initiatives.
Exeter City Council Leader, Phil Bialyk, said: “These are incredibly difficult times in so many different ways. We know that there are many people who may be struggling financially at the...
People in Exeter can sign up once again for the City Council’s Garden Waste Collection Scheme.
The Council had stopped new customers signing up for the scheme at the beginning of the Coronavirus outbreak. However it has now lifted the suspension and is taking on new customers.
Gardeners can choose either a 140 litre brown bin for £37.15 a year or a 240 litre bin for £48.80. Alternatively a bundle of five biodegradable sacks costs £11.
People in Exeter are being encouraged to have a ‘picnic in their parlour’ on 8 May to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of VE Day.
On Friday 8 March it will be 75 years since the Allied victory in Europe during the Second World War.
There were plans to mark the occasion with an event in the city centre but the Coronavirus outbreak changed this.
Now with people staying home and keeping safe as a result of COVID-19, Exeter City Council is instead encouraging everyone to ‘picnic in their parlour’ to celebrate a day that ended the conflict in Europe and ultimately lead...
A Topsham group supporting vulnerable and elderly people during the Coronavirus pandemic has described the awarding of almost £4,000 from the Exeter Covid-19 Action Fund as “a life saver!”
The Estuary League of Friends was successful in applying for two grants to help people in Topsham, Countess Wear and Newtown.
The money will be used to maintain the charity’s lifeline Home Help service for 98 vulnerable and elderly people in Topsham and the surrounding area, providing help in the home so that they can live safely during the Coronavirus outbreak.
Some play areas in Exeter are being refurbished whilst the equipment is out of use due to the Coronavirus outbreak, the City Council has revealed.
Making the repairs now mean the areas will be ready for use once restrictions are lifted, limiting any future disruption.
Cllr David Harvey, Lead Councillor for Environment and City Management, said money left at the end of the last financial year had allowed them to refurbish two play towers at Anne Close.
“The towers were looking really tired and some of the timbers were rotting in places so the work that has been...
Hundreds of businesses in Exeter invited to make a claim for a grant to help them through the Coronavirus outbreak have yet to do so, Exeter City Council has revealed.
The Council is helping distribute £25 million of government funding in the form of either Small Business Grants or Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grants.
Last week, the Council wrote to 2,000 businesses in Exeter inviting them to make a claim.
And on Thursday evening, only around a third to a half of those businesses eligible had responded.
