Exeter

Over seventy families from council owned properties across Exeter have joined a University of Bath study that aims to reduce energy use within homes. It has long been known that identical homes with identical numbers of occupants differ greatly in the amount they spend on energy. The University of Bath is now carrying out work to establish why this is. Exeter City Council has worked with the University to recruit residents with suitable properties for the study, in which computer scientists, architects, engineers and psychologists have come together to develop a better understanding of how...

Police are warning the public about a large-scale fraud, orchestrated by email, that makes death threats to recipients. The scam involves sending threatening emails to both individuals and companies advising them that someone close to them wants them dead and has provided details on how to kill the individual. The recipient is then told to provide their bank details in order to prevent any harm coming to them.

The scam appears to be at a national level, and the emails are very generic in nature, appearing to be sent from outside the UK. There have been five separate reported cases...

Tourism businesses across Devon are being offered expert advice and support in a series of ‘Open for Business’ conferences organised by Visit Devon as part of the Government backed extreme weather recovery programme. The conferences are open to all tourism businesses across Devon and neighbouring counties. Each conference will commence at 9:00am until 4.30pm to include a morning programme of presentations from leading experts followed by an informal afternoon session of Business Advice and networking. Refreshments and lunch will be provided free of charge.

Supported by Visit...

Volunteers at the Exeter Dissenters Graveyard have received £7,900 from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) today, to begin drawing up plans to restore the historical site. The funding granted to the Exeter Dissenters Graveyard Trust will allow volunteers to begin a project to record, investigate and clean the site to preserve it for the future. The project will also eventually see plans drawn up for an overall restoration of the site following the initial work by the trust. Paul chant Secretary of the trust welcomed the funding award, he said: “This is the first stage of our project to...

Victorious Exeter Chiefs will parade the LV= Cup through Exeter city centre on Saturday, 5 April, the City Council has announced.

Rob Baxter's all-conquering team, together with staff and officials from the club, will travel from St James Park on an open-top double-decker bus.

The bus, provided by Stagecoach, will leave St James Park at 2.30pm, travelling down Sidwell Street and into the High Street, before arriving at the Guildhall at 3pm for a Civic Reception hosted by the Lord Mayor of Exeter, Cllr Rachel Lyons.

Crowds are expected to line the route in a similar...

A body has been found by search teams looking for missing Plymouth man Martin Hough.

The body was discovered by officers at midday near Burrator Reservoir. Officers, members of the Dartmoor Rescue Group and the police helicopter were in the area since Martin Hough, 53, was reported missing to police on Sunday at around 7.15pm. He was last seen at about 9.45am that morning at an address in Rocky Park Road, wearing jeans and a blue/black check shirt and black boots. The death is not being treated as suspicious and a file will be prepared on behalf of the coroner.

Michelmores LLP has announced three appointments which further strengthen its nationally recognised agricultural litigation team.

Solicitor Rachel O’Connor joins Michelmores from TLT’s Bristol Office, while Victoria Howlett was previously a solicitor at Burges Salmon. They are joined in Michelmores' Bristol office by barrister, Adam Corbin. Adam was called to the Bar in 2011, then deferred his pupillage at Iscoed Chambers in Swansea for a year to work in the Legal Team for the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Their appointments bring the...

Exeter City Council has set out a new action plan on how it maintains and manages housing in response to a £1 million overspend from the council’s housing revenue account (HRA).

The action plan could see some tenants prevented from transferring into a new council house or even face eviction or fines if their property is in a poor state of repair.

The council will also look to better understand the reasons behind the overspend ahead of a major restructure of the service due to begin later this year.

Cllr Rob Hannaford, Lead councillor for Housing and Customer Access...