Devon County Council has pledged that it will do everything it can to help local businesses through the coronavirus outbreak and ensure a strong recovery for the local economy.
The authority is encouraging businesses to visit the Heart of the South West Growth Hub to find essential information on available support and advice.
The Growth Hub, which is delivered by the County Council on behalf of the HotSW Local Enterprise Partnership, can help provide businesses with details of the Government’s proposals on Business Rate Relief and how eligible businesses can apply for...
A charity dedicated to improving the lives of residents in Paignton and the surrounding villages has been given a cash boost by a regional builder to help with its work.
Persimmon Homes South West, based in Exeter, donated £1,000 to the Thrive Project Community Hub through its Community Champions scheme.
The Thrive Project is a community hub run by unpaid volunteers. It offers support to approximately 60 people per week, in the guise of food, clothes, computer and phone use, care of address, activities, referrals, specialist drop ins, sourcing accommodation, goods,...
The UK has witnessed a wave of unprecedented change: school closures, work-from-home, self-isolation, supermarket stockpiling and increased pressure on hospitals. On the flipside, amongst uncertainty, fear and worry, the UK has also seen communities and businesses step up and show their solidarity like never before. From NHS discounts to free online gym-classes, Yoopies, the largest online homecare platform in Europe, is also playing an integral role to encourage communities across the UK to help those that need it most. The platform has launched:
Exeter based print firm Stormpress are offering free support to local shops, hospitality and leisure businesses struggling during the Coronavirus outbreak. The print company have offered to print up to 1000 free A5 flyers for up to 50 local businesses to help them get the message out to customers during this difficult time.
Henry Luce, Managing Director of Stormpress, Henry Luce said: “We were receiving emails from local businesses who had decided to move online or start home deliveries and they were clearly struggling to get that message out there. We felt we were in a unique...
THE UK’s largest opticians and audiologists, Specsavers, has suspended all routine testing for the foreseeable future to focus on essential and urgent care only.
‘We may be closing our stores for business as usual, but will remain open for care, particularly for key workers. Our desire is to continue to provide essential and urgent services to the communities we serve, as well as online and telephone advice for those who need it,’ says CEO John Perkins.
‘Guaranteeing the safety and wellbeing of our customers and our colleagues has to be our priority so we will only open...
Despite devastating natural disasters or deadly viruses and often because of them, dedicated authors keep on writing and producing books for their readers' pleasure.
Former Exeter College student Fay Knowles (nee Johanson) has just released "Deadly Deceit In Paradise", Book Two in her Buchanan Mystery Romance Series (her sixth published book). The first in the series is "Dangerous Devotion" (formerly "Love at Sunset").
"Deadly Deceit In Paradise" tells how a mysterious death in paradise leads a young woman down a path that will determine her future. Natalie Barrett flies...
Social care and social work teams at Devon County Council are redeploying staff from non-critical services to essential frontline services in response to the coronavirus outbreak.
It’s to ensure that vulnerable people, young or old, are able to continue accessing the services they need.
Customer service staff at Care Direct, which is the route for adults into Devon County Council’s social work services, have seen telephone calls rise sharply over the last few weeks, as the public comes to terms with the impact of the virus. They’ve taken hundreds of calls from vulnerable...
Daisy Griffith is now leading the most popular regional news bulletin in the country, Spotlight, which reaches more than 50 per cent of the South West each week.
Meanwhile Emma Clements is running BBC Radio Cornwall, a station with more than 100,000 weekly listeners.
Stephanie Marshall, head of the BBC in the South West and West, said the experienced journalists would bring “diligence and creativity”, particularly during a "critical time for the the South West and the UK as a whole".
The new appointments came as the coronavirus began to sweep through the UK....
Libraries Unlimited has announced that libraries across Devon will temporarily close from Friday 20 March, in response to the coronavirus outbreak.
Across the county, library staff are trying to continue to provide library services in different ways.
In Exeter, they are trialling ‘books by post’. Others will be providing online sessions such as Bounce & Rhyme, reading groups, and story times. There will be IT help, provided remotely.
Staff will be checking in by telephone with customers who they know to be vulnerable and needing social contact.
In order to help residents parking outside their homes while working from home or self-isolating during the Coronavirus outbreak, the County Council’s parking enforcement teams will reduce enforcement on certain roads – although double yellow lines will still be enforced.
Changes to routine patrols will enable officers to concentrate their efforts on keeping key routes running normally.
Councillor Stuart Hughes, Devon County Council Cabinet Member for Highway Management, said: “We must keep the network moving but we also recognise the concerns in residential areas where...
