Devon

Devon County Council has today (Wed 17 October, 2012) confirmed its commitment to making the most of this summer’s Olympic and Paralympic Games by pledging £310,000 to a 2012 Legacy plan for grassroots sport in the county. The announcement was made at a joint launch event with the County Sports Partnership, Active Devon, with whom the Council will be joining forces to implement the plan.

East Devon Olympian and Team GB Athlete Jo Pavey said “It’s always good to see investment in grassroots sport and in this instance, utilising the excitement and focus of London 2012 to...

The number of people claiming Job Seeker's Allowance (JSA) in Devon has fallen by 2.8% over the past month.

The claimant count across the county has gone down by 263 claimants between August and September, falling from 9,273 to 9,010.

This is the second consecutive month that the number of people claiming JSA has been lower than at the same time last year. Although this follows the national trend, the yearly fall of 5.7% in Devon demonstrates a faster reduction than the UK average of 1.6%.

Youth unemployment has also fallen very...

In partnership with First Great Western a Brompton folding bike hire scheme, Brompton Dock, has now launched at Exeter St Davids station.

The Exeter Daily was invited to the launch of this exciting new service, where Brompton Dock Managing Director Mark Antwis teamed up with First Great Western General Manager (West) David Crone to demonstrate the simplicity of the system and just how quick it was to assemble the foldaway bikes - 7.7 seconds is the record.

The cycle hire schemes provide members with 24-hour access to Brompton folding bikes, which can be...

Thousands of home extensions, which were previously blocked because they were unsightly, out of character with a local area or invaded neighbours' privacy, may now go ahead unimpeded under plans to extend permitted development rights, the Local Government Association (LGA) warns.

The LGA is also concerned that extensions which would previously have been improved through the planning process in order to make them acceptable to neighbours and reduce their negative impact on local amenities will in future go ahead unaltered, resulting in inappropriate development and...

Playing football could be the best way for people with high blood pressure, known as hypertension, to improve their fitness, normalise their blood pressure and reduce their risk of stroke.

Research from Universities of Exeter and Copenhagen, and Gentofte University Hospital in Denmark, published on Monday 15th October 2012 in the journal Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise , suggests that football training prevents cardiovascular disease in middle-aged men with hypertension and is more effective than healthy lifestyle advice currently prescribed by GPs.

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