Devon County Council

Devon’s Public Health leaders have added their voice to a growing debate about the amount of sugar in people’s diets.

Their comments follow the recent petition on a proposed sugar tax, handed to Government by TV chef and food campaigner Jamie Oliver, and the publication of a report by Public Health England (PHE) yesterday, entitled Sugar Reduction: The evidence for action. This report was commissioned by Ministers at the Department of Health to inform policy-making as part of the Government’s forthcoming childhood obesity strategy.

The report suggests a number of measures...

Devon County Council is encouraging more people to start car sharing this autumn by launching its popular ‘Win a Tank of fuel’ competition once again.

Everyone who registers a journey on the CarShareDevon website, sending a request to share, between now and 30 November 2015 will be entered in the draw to win a tank of fuel, up to the value of £100.

CarShareDevon is a well established website which matches drivers and passengers from across the county who are doing the same or similar journeys. The website allows you to search for others travelling in the same direction as...

More than 4,000 grit bins across Devon are currently being inspected and re-filled by Devon County Council in preparation for winter.

Although the Autumn sunshine has dominated the recent weather, the County Council is gearing up for the coming season as it has now started its winter service operations.

The County Council spends between £4 million and £5 million a year on roads affected by winter weather – whether it is salting roads, clearing snow or responding to flooding issues.

Councillor Stuart Hughes, Devon County Council Cabinet Member for Highway Management...

Exeter library is celebrating its 50th birthday on October 22, and the public is being called on to join the festivities.

The library, then called the ‘New City Library’, was unveiled by the Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent, on Friday 22 October 1965.

The opening followed the previous library, in Castle Street, being bombed in 1942.

Since then hundreds of thousands of people have passed through its doors and used its services.

And now, to mark the birthday celebrations, the public is being urged to share their memories and experiences.

Library staff...

Devon County Council has expressed its disappointment at having to postpone a contract to build a new primary school on the outskirts of Exeter.

Work on the Trinity Church of England Primary was due to start last month (Monday 7 September) but the County Council has now put the contract on hold pending agreement with the landowners regarding the site situated near to the Newcourt housing development. This follows protracted negotiations from which it has not been possible to reach agreement to progress the project in the immediate term.

Devon County Council Leader John Hart...

More than 200,000 businesses and households are now able to connect to fibre broadband thanks to the Connecting Devon and Somerset programme – around 185,000 of these are achieving superfast speeds.

The latest communities to ‘go live’ with superfast broadband in Devon include Cheriton Fitzpaine, Copplestone, Harbertonford and Sutton Cross. Fibre broadband has also been further expanded in exchange areas across the county.

Connecting Devon and Somerset (CDS) announced on Friday (9 October) that it had achieved a major milestone in its rollout of high-speed fibre broadband...

Devon County Council is preparing to undertake survey work in the area around Alma Bridge to explore erosion of the nearby cliffs, after accepting that the bridge is likely to be under threat at some point in the future.

The surveys will provide a base line on which to compare future erosion of the cliff face that protects the bridge. The authority has confirmed that it is looking at a number of options to maintain a link to the South West Coast Path over the River Sid, and it will start monitoring erosion in the surrounding area later this month.

The County Council is...

Devon County Council is calling for potential parents who want to adopt to consider fostering first under new plans to help reduce disruption to children in care.

Babies and children, who are likely to be adopted, can wait months in foster care sometimes moving from carer to carer.

Devon Adoption has introduced the Government-led ‘foster to adopt’ scheme to protect these children from experiencing multiple moves within the care system and provide them with good quality, uninterrupted and consistent care, while detailed assessments of their birth family are completed and the...

Devon County Council's Scrutiny Committees have today (Friday 11 September) reported their findings from a review of the Cranbrook development in East Devon.

The Task Group completed its review of the past, current and future development of the new town, having examined issues such the current physical and social infrastructure, the impact of the development on public services, and Cranbrook’s longer term opportunities.

The task group’s report states that “a huge amount has been achieved” since building work began at Cranbrook in June 2011.

Cranbrook held its first...

From 20th September there will be a number of relatively minor service changes to Stagecoach bus routes operated under contract to Devon County Council. These are a result of cuts to the Devon County Council budget.

Exeter City Services

Route D (Digby - Exeter - University) On Mondays-Fridays, the 15 minute frequency between St Lukes and the University will be extended until 1900 in line with extended lecture hours. On Saturdays the short journeys between St Lukes and the University will no longer run, with only the full route running every 30 minutes.

Route T (...