South West

Those living in the South West trust Google more than their partners, family, friends and even social media, new research has shown.

Sixty per cent of people in Bristol, Devon and Cornwall admit they would rather ask the search engine for the answer to a question than their partner. Londoners and those from the North West trust Google the most.

The research by search engine marketing agency, Search Laboratory, showed that people living in the South West are much more likely to trust the search engine rather than a loved one to give them the correct answer to a problem....

A record number of South West beaches have achieved the highest bathing water standards this year according to a report from Marine Conservation Society (MCS) released today. The MCS 'Good Beach Guide’ shows that 173 out of 195 (88.7%) South West beaches received the top standard for excellent water quality.

Nationally MCS has recommended 538 out of 734 (73%) UK beaches tested during last summer as having excellent water quality –135 more than the previous year.

MCS Coastal Pollution Officer, Rachel Wyatt, says she hopes the latest figures will be a boost to UK tourism...

A campaign, specifically to find families for local children who have been waiting the longest to be adopted, is launching across the south west this month.

Family for Me (FFM), which is part of south west adoption agency Families for Children, hopes to find parents for these children as soon as possible. Their wait may have been because they are older, part of a sibling group, have specialist needs, or are of mixed heritage.

Cat Gifford, Assessing Social Worker for FFM said:

“We are extremely excited about the Family for Me project. The project’s key objective is...

Torquay-based Dave Morris (26) has left a 10 year military career with The Royal Air Force (RAF) to launch an exciting new commercial business, ‘Nomad LED’, the UK’s first all-electric, emission free, fleet of mobile advertising vehicles sourced in Europe. And the newly launched company is already drawing attention in the region including Torbay Council and the Police for a potential local community event.

Nomad’s innovative fleet of electrically-powered vehicles equipped with state-of-the-art LED display screens, are designed to provide a cost-effective means of delivering a...

Thousands of renters in the South West are too scared of being evicted to ask their private landlord to fix a problem in their home, according to research from the charity Shelter released today. A YouGov poll of more than 4,500 private renters across the country found that 1 in 12 renters (8%) in the South West avoided asking their landlord to repair a problem or improve conditions in the last year because they feared eviction. According to the poll, 1 in 33 (3%) of private renters said they had actually been evicted or served with an eviction notice because they complained to their...

Primary school pupils across Devon have been bravely examining the rubbish produced by their packed lunches over the past few weeks in readiness of the County-wide “Waste Free Lunch” week campaign from 10th – 14th March.

Donning gloves, and with strong stomachs, children have been weighing waste, sorting snacks and picking out packaging from the mountain of rubbish generated every day after lunch time.

The aim of the campaign is to reduce the amount of waste produced by packed lunches in schools, and to share innovative ideas for packing “waste free” lunches with pupils,...

A 15ft great white shark named Lydia is on course to arrive at the South West coast later this week coast according to scientists tracking her via satellite tag.

Lydia, already the first recorded example of her species to cross the Atlantic, is now less than 1000 miles from UK shores and if she keeps to her current course and speed may arrive at the Cornish coast within a few days.

Lydia was first tagged off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida, last March by the researchers for the Ocearch scientific project and since then US scientists have been tracking Lydia for 19,000...

An extra £140 million of road repair funding has been pledged by the Government this weekend to aid clear-ups following the severe winter storms.

The extra funding, announced by the Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin on Sunday (9 March), will see a further £103.5 million of funding spread across all UK local authorities while another £36.5 million will be targeted only on the worst hit areas.

While it is still uncertain how much of this funding will be made available to repair Devon’s 8,000 mile road network, the extra funding is unlikely to make much impact to the...

Haines Watts Rural Business farming consultant Lucy Thomas has been kept busy helping agricultural clients to apply for the latest round of ‘Catchment Sensitive Farming’ Capital Grants at various locations around the South West.

The scheme is part of the Catchment Sensitive Farming project which provides advice to farmers to help them implement changes in farming that reduce the risk of both water pollution, and the regulation being applied to farming to achieve required water quality standards. Catchment Sensitive Farming (CSF) delivers practical solutions and targeted support to...