Devon County Council

More should be done to highlight depression and remove stigma of the condition, says Devon County Council.

A review, published this week by a Council task group, examines the scale and impact of depression in older people in Devon, and looks at the services and strategies to help people affected.

While there is quite rightly considerable focus on dementia, depression is reported to be twice as prevalent.

The World Health Organisation projections indicate that depression will be the highest ranked cause of disease burden in developed countries by the year 2020....

Remodelling work will begin this summer on the first of the county’s dementia care Centres of Excellence in Newton Abbot.

Mapleton Care Home, on Ashburton Road, already provides care for people with dementia, but will be completely redeveloped over the next 18 months to meet local demand.

The plans have been finalised following open days held earlier in the year, which gave residents, their families, as well as staff and others, an opportunity to see how the proposed plans will transform their care home.

Mapleton will the first of up to ten Council homes to be...

Devon County Council has welcomed confirmation from the Government that it has qualified for further emergency funding. Following a successful lobbying campaign for Government support, the County Council is now expecting to receive a total of around £2.5 million of Bellwin funding towards the cost of temporary repair and clean-up following last year’s floods.

It comes after the announcement from The Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) that grants will be provided to cover part of the cost of damage caused by flood events in the county in September and December....

The total number of people claiming Job Seekers Allowance has increased by 545 claimants between December and January from 9,273 to 9,818, however, this is not unexpected given the seasonal nature of Devon’s labour market.

This is in line with the national trend which also saw an increase between December and January.

Claimant count in Devon at 2.2% of the working age population remains considerably lower than the national figure of 3.9%.

The latest trend was expected due to a reduction in seasonal employment after Christmas.

Year on year the number of...

A secure children’s home in Exeter has been praised by Ofsted for making good continued progress since its last Ofsted inspection.

The Atkinson Unit provides accommodation for up to ten young people and was inspected earlier in the summer of 2012 and again at the end of the year.

In their earlier report the inspectors said that the unit exceeded minimum requirements and were rated ‘good’ for their quality of care, safeguarding, leadership and management, and for the outcomes of the young people. During their most recent inspection, Ofsted were impressed with the progress...

A planning application for a £1.5 million flagship development in Totnes for a community hub will be submitted in June.

A new state of the art facility is planned for the Rushbrook site to create a community services hub for adults with learning disabilities, physical and sensory disabilities.

Devon County Council currently provide support across two sites – The Boat Shed and Parkers Barn. Neither site can fully meet people’s needs. The new facility will enable many more people with complex disabilities to be supported and also provide the facilities needed to support,...

A Devon secondary that has cut its energy use in half has been named the top Green school in Europe.

Okehampton College has won the prestigious Zayed Future Energy Prize and been awarded $100,000 to spend on renewable energy.

Since 2009, the college has cut its gas and electricity use in half, saving £60,000 a year in energy bills and reducing its CO2 emissions by more than 50 per cent.

That has been achieved by installing solar panels to produce Green electricity, changing 3,000 lights to low energy and introducing hi-tech measuring and management systems to track...

Board members of the Devon Music Education Hub have come together to mark its launch at a free concert in Exeter attended by thousands of school children.

The Devon Music Education Hub consists of a wide range of organisations involved with music education, and working with schools it will deliver the national Plan for Music Education on Devon County Council’s behalf.

It aims to ensure that every child in Devon aged between five and 18 has the opportunity to learn a musical instrument through whole-class ensemble teaching programmes on a weekly basis.

The launch was...

The Cabinet has confirmed its decision to repair, restore and modernise part of the Grand Western Canal following extensive damage in November last year.

The Devon County Council owned canal suffered a serious breach on 21 November 2012 at the Swing embankment which rises nearly 60 feet from surrounding fields at Halberton.

This followed unprecedented rainfall of 38mm during the early hours coupled with the inflow of water into the canal from adjoining land. Water levels in the canal rose by 25cm within a matter of hours.

The Canal is now dammed at Greenway Bridge...

Devon County Council has announced that it is backing a new agreement with French authorities which aims to tackle the threat of pollution from shipping incidents in the English Channel.