Prime Minister, David Cameron, has today visited the destroyed track near Dawlish as part of his tour of the storm damage in the South West. Mr Cameron met with the repair force from Network Rail and thanked railway staff for their work to retain service via replacement bus and alternative travel schemes. At meeting with Rail operators First Great Western Mr Cameron tweeted “Hearing how @FGW are keeping the SW #openforbusiness. We will look at possible alternatives to the Dawlish rail route.” The Prime Minister later met with local volunteers accompanied by Anne Marie Morris MP for Newton...
Gale force winds are forecast for the rest of this week as the relentless storms continue to batter the South West.
The Met Office’s chief forecaster said: “With ongoing flooding in some places, any further rain will only add to the problems. Very gusty winds may be an added hazard in places.”
The Met Office forecast for the next five days is as follows:
Today:
A wet and windy start with some heavy downpours. The rain will clear eastwards during the morning, leaving the rest of the day bright and breezy, with a few showers, some of which will be heavy,...
The rising number of assaults against frontline staff has seen the Ambulance service re-commit to a zero tolerance approach to abuse. The South West Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT) reports that there were 104 reports of physical abuse against frontline staff in the last 12 months. 73 of the reported assaults were referred to the police with 22 incidents leading to the abusive patients to be arrested. There are a number of more serious cases awaiting a court date as a result of these reports. Anne Payne, Health, Safety and Security Manager with SWASFT, said: “All reports of...
The Dream-A-Way team were delighted when some of the HMS Defender crew joined in with the bucket collection at St James Park at the Exeter City v Portsmouth match on Saturday.
While it was a great result on the pitch with City scoring a 94th minute equaliser (1–1) it was also a great result with a very good collection off the pitch too with Lez Miller’s top 20 collectors overcoming the rainy weather and collecting a massive total of £638.15.
Chairman Jeff Merrett said “ Despite the weather it was a great atmosphere at St James Park and Dream-A-Way were delighted to have...
South West Water plans to invest almost £160million in improving its services in 2014-15, and freeze standard tariffs and standing charges for all its household and business customers until April 2015.
A total of £430,000 per day will be spent on improving the region's vital water and sewerage infrastructure in 2014-15.
The year's investment is part of a £700million programme between 2010 and 2015 which supports 4,000 jobs in the wider regional economy.
Exeter is one particular area that will benefit from South West Water’s new improvements. £4.4million is being...
A new National Rural Crime Network, endorsed by eighteen (18) of the UK’s Police and Crime Commissioners, including Devon and Cornwall’s Tony Hogg, has been set-up to help tackle rural crime more effectively in England and Wales. A further 8 Commissioners are considering joining the group which could bring the total to around two thirds of PCCs across the two countries. Once established the Network will provide an online resource for police, community safety practitioners and others to interact, to share information, training development, access to case studies and link up with other...
Government Inspector Anthony Thickett starts his 19-day hearing sessions of the public examination of the Draft Local Plan 2006-26 submitted by East Devon District Council on Tuesday, 11 February.
Full details of the programme, showing the dates and subject matter of each session, are available on the programme officer’s website at http://www.eastdevon.gov.uk/progofficer
Proceedings will last for just under one month and in that time the Inspector will hear evidence from the council, community organisations, protest groups and landowners and developers in the district....
Devon County Council leader, John Hart, has today offered praise for the “swift” response to the unprecedented rail problems affecting the South West.
The disruptions are mainly the result of the recent severe weather destroying around 80m of coastal track near Dawlish limiting the region’s transport links.
Extra pressure came over the weekend when a landslip on track near Yeovil cut off Devon’s rail link to the rest of the country.
Although initial expectations thought the repair work would take a week the line was re-opened just a day later.
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