Extra funding to help repair Devon’s battered roads has been approved but comes as the county’s backlog of repairs hits an estimated £200 million.
Thanks to savings accrued during the year and a budget underspend, Devon is now able to put £12 million extra into maintaining the county’s roads, notably repairing its deluge of potholes and improving drainage issues.
But Devon County Council’s cabinet heard that the extra cash comes as the repair bill for outstanding maintenance on the county’s roads is thought to be £200 million.
Devon County Council's deputy leader is set to become the new leader of the authority.
James McInnes has been chosen by the ruling Conservative group to replace John Hart. Long-standing Cabinet member Andrea Davis will become deputy leader.
The changes are set to be ratified at the council's annual meeting on Thursday 23 May.
Mr Hart is being nominated to become chairman of the council at the same meeting.
Mr McInnes represents Hatherleigh and Chagford and is a retired farmer from West Devon. He is married with a daughter.
The Devon Windrush Flag was raised at County Hall today to mark 75 years since the Empire Windrush arrived in Tilbury Dock and its 492 passengers disembarked to begin a new life in Britain.
Members of the Celebrating Windrush in Devon group joined the Leader of Devon County Council (DCC) John Hart, DCC Chair Percy Prowse, Chief Executive Donna Manson, the Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Devon Philip Bostock OBE, and the Lord Mayor of Exeter Kevin Mitchell, for the flag-raising.
The event was a chance to pay tribute to the UK’s Caribbean community for their immense contribution...
A tree planting demonstration will be carried out in the grounds of County Hall to mark National Tree Week (Saturday 23 November – Sunday 1 December) and support the Woodland Trust’s “Big Climate Fightback”.
Pupils from St Leonard’s Primary School and representatives from the Devon Youth Parliament will be helping to plant ten trees on Friday 29 November.
The aim is to promote tree planting to tackle climate change and also raise awareness of the importance of acting now to replace trees lost to Ash dieback and other diseases.
Representatives from Devon’s Health and Wellbeing Board, which oversees the strategic delivery of health and social care services in the county, have signed an ambitious Charter to end loneliness.
It’s a pledge by the Board that its partner authorities, including the NHS, Public Health, and Social Care, will do all they can to tackle the issue. The Board wants to better understand the extent of loneliness in Devon; raise awareness of it; and involve people who experience it in helping to identify ways to reduce it. It also wants ‘loneliness’ to be on all the authorities’ agendas;...
Devon County Council’s Cabinet Member for Highways, Stuart Hughes, has thanked highways teams and staff in the Highways Operations Control Centre (HOCC) for their ‘exceptional’ work in keeping Devon moving over the festive break.
While many people were enjoying a well-earned break, highways teams across Devon worked around-the-clock, sometimes in freezing temperatures, responding to incidents so that Devon’s 2,000 mile-network of main roads kept running smoothly. From 1pm on Friday 22 December through to 8am on Tuesday 2 January, Skanska, the council’s highways maintenance...
A record number of nominations were received for this year’s Devon Community Transport Awards and the winners were announced at a special ceremony on Thursday 26 May.
More than 80 nominations were received for this year’s awards, which are now in their 17th year and aim to recognise outstanding contributions to community transport in Devon.
The Devon Community Transport Awards, sponsored by the GM Coachwork Group, who specialise in wheelchair access vehicles and vehicle adaptations, honoured 10 proud recipients at the celebration event at County Hall.
Devon County Councillors were met with a colourful and noisy protest by campaigners today as they met to agree £1.7m cuts to County bus services.
Councillors were greeted with a new version of the well-known children’s song, ‘The wheels on the bus’!
The protest was organised by Exeter Green Party who describe the cuts as ‘devastating’, particularly for the old, the young, job seekers and those unable to drive or who choose not to.
Diana Moore who organised the protest said: “The County’s own Equalities Impact Assessment makes clear, these cuts will have a...
Unite Community members from across Devon will be starting a summer long campaign today (Thursday 18 June), to highlight cuts to community hospital beds with a protest outside County Hall in Exeter. Plans have been put forward to replace community hospital beds in Devon with a system of home care called “care closer to home”. Concerns are mounting that the loss of the beds will leave elderly and vulnerable patients recovering from operations and other treatments isolated, as well as putting pressure on over stretched critical wards at district hospitals. Unite Community member James...
The Russian embassy has honoured over 50 World War Two veterans in Exeter today (Friday 19 December) for their part in transporting crucial supplies to Russia.
Counsellor of The Russian Embassy, Mr Sergey Nalobin, presented Ushakov medals to the men of the Arctic Convoys at a special ceremony at County Hall.
The medal is awarded to sailors who have displayed courage in the course of defending Russia or its interests.
Created by the Allied Powers, the Arctic Convoys sailed through blinding snow storms and darkness under a barrage of attack from German U-boats and...
