Devon County Council

There is just under a month to go to comment on Devon County Council’s proposals to cut £1.7 million from its annual public transport budget over the next two financial years.

More than 1,800 people have taken part in the consultation so far, but there is still time for people to have their say before it closes on Monday 20 April.

The County Council is proposing to withdraw its support for a number of leisure and tourism services, some town services, and some fare car services, as well as making changes to travel using the National Bus Pass.

It is the first time in...

A competition launched last month to find the official name for the South Devon Link Road has received over 1,000 entries from across the UK.

Devon County Council and Torbay Council, along with Galliford Try - the contractors responsible for constructing the road – launched the competition to get ideas for the official name of the new road. The response was incredible: within the space of four weeks over 1000 entries were submitted.

Many of the suggestions relate to famous historical or literary figures from the area, whilst others focused on geographical features around...

Devon County Council will move forward with plans to set up a new independent organisation to run the county’s libraries.

Councillors have agreed proposals to establish a community-owned ‘mutual’ which would be commissioned by the County Council to run the library service on their behalf.

It means that, despite the authority facing a £50 million reduction in its funding in the next financial year, all of the County’s libraries would remain open and continue to be managed by professional library staff.

As well as the considerable budget savings, creating a new...

Entrepreneurs, inventors and small businesses in Devon are set to benefit from a unique new support service. Exeter Library has been chosen to pilot a Business & Intellectual Property Centre (BIPC) dedicated to supporting local entrepreneurs to start, run and grow their own businesses. The new centre will join the network of six others across the UK based on the successful British Library Business and IP Centre in London. Over the past two years Business & IP Centres have been created in city libraries in Birmingham, Newcastle, Leeds, Manchester, Sheffield and Liverpool....

A Mid Devon bridge which was destroyed in floods in late 2012 has been reinstated.

The original Waterstave Bridge, near Bradninch, which was built in the nineteenth century, was partially swept away following heavy rainfall and flooding on 21 November 2012. The extent of the damage meant that the remainder of the Grade Two Listed bridge was irreparable and unsafe, and was subsequently de-listed and demolished.

It has been replaced with a new structure which has been constructed over the past six months. It uses concrete beams supported by reinforced concrete piled abutments...

Thousands of homes and businesses will have their flood risk reduced with the potential work Devon County Council is involved in delivering over the coming years.

Devon County Council’s Cabinet will be asked next week (Wednesday 11 March) to approve the flood risk action plan for the coming financial year.

The proposed Action Plan for 2015/16 includes a number of schemes that will benefit in excess of 200 properties, while a number of proactive studies for future schemes is being developed in line with Defra’s 6 year programme.

Around 150 properties have already...

Plans to set up a new independent organisation to run Devon’s libraries have been unveiled.

The new community-owned 'mutual' would be commissioned by Devon County Council to run the library service on its behalf.

Similar models are successfully running library services in other parts of the country and saving council taxpayers' money.

The authority is facing a £50 million reduction in its funding in the next financial year.

It has already shaved £3 million off its library service budget over the past three years, and aims to save a further £1.5 million by...

As part of the follow up to the national inquiry into Jimmy Savile, Devon County Council was asked by the Government to investigate a specific allegation relating to a former council-run children’s home, Colleton Lodge, Exeter, in the early 1980s.

The information had been uncovered as part of a document review undertaken by the Metropolitan Police Service on behalf of the Department of Health.

The allegation of potential abuse was made by a former resident who described hearing screams of another young man in an adjacent room during a visit by Saville and another man to the...

More than 10,000 vulnerable people in Devon have been helped by a crisis intervention scheme over the past two years.

The scheme’s been operated by Devon County Council working with the eight district councils and funded by a Government grant.

But the scheme was in danger after the Government withdrew the grant.

However, after extensive lobbying by local councils, the Government agreed extra funding to allow it to continue.

Now Devon County Council has agreed to top up the grant to a total of £1 million to allow more people to be helped.

The Devon...

Devon County Council has agreed an increase of 1.99 per cent in council tax bills.

The increase will support spending of over £500 million including a reprieve for threatened school lollipop patrols, continued support for vulnerable people on welfare and extra winter road gritting.

There will also be an extra £100,000 to cushion bus service cuts and £40,000 for the Citizens’ Advice Bureau.

The council tax increase will bring in an extra £6.2 million over the next year to help safeguard services.

But the budget still calls for reductions of £46 million as a...