High-speed fibre broadband will be available to 44,000 Devon and Somerset homes and businesses within four months.
Connecting Devon and Somerset today takes a major step forward in the £94 million project to bring superfast broadband to rural areas by announcing the next communities set to benefit from the programme.
By the end of March 2014, fibre broadband will be available to a further 31 communities*. This extends the number of homes and businesses that are able to benefit from the programme to 44,000.
Those communities include: Bishop’s Hull, Bridford, Chilton...
Last night, Neil Parish MP, presented the Rural Fair Share Petition signed by the residents of Tiverton and Honiton. The Rural Fair Share campaign is calling on the Government to address the ongoing disparity in funding between rural and urban areas.
The campaign is set up to counter policies such as the rural penalty which sees urban areas receive 50% more support per head than rural areas. The Campaign is set up by a group of MPs which regularly argue for a fairer funding balance between urban and rural areas. The group’s Secretary Graham Stuart MP, said: "The Rural Fair Share...
Police have warned rural householders to be vigilant after a rise in heating oil thefts from gardens as tanks are filled ready for winter. Thousands of homes, mostly in rural areas, are dependent on heating oil. The increase in the price of the oil and the isolated nature of many of the homes has made them an easy target for thieves and there have been 100 recorded domestic heating oil thefts in the county so far this year. In total over £35,000 worth of oil has been stolen. Superintendent Jim Pearce of Devon and Cornwall Police said: “This type of crime can affect the most vulnerable...
New figures from leading rural insurer NFU Mutual reveal rural crime in the South West totalled an estimated £780,000 in 2012, while the UK-wide cost of ‘agri-crime’ fell by 20% to an estimated £42.3 million (£52.7m in 2011). The figures, based on claims data, have been released to coincide with the publication of the annual NFU Mutual Rural Crime Survey. Unlike other crime reports, the insurer’s includes claims for crimes against homes, farms, commercial premises and vehicles. Machinery tops the thieves’ wish list in the Devon and Cornwall while tools and quad bikes have also proved...
Every effort must be made to ensure a vaccine is available later this year to help combat the spread of the deadly Schmallenberg virus (SBV), the NFU said today.
The call comes as many farms with early lambing flocks across the country have experienced higher than normal losses with still births and deformities ranging from fused limbs to twisted necks.
The disease has spread across England and Wales to the Scottish border region and has now been confirmed on more than 1,000 UK farms. Although it is still being recognised by Defra and the European Commission as ‘low impact...
Devon is already home to world class, innovative businesses and a campaign by Devon County Council is aiming to make it easier for companies and entrepreneurs to move to the county and be part of its on-going success story.
Devon Delivers ( www.investdevon.co.uk ) is highlighting the wide range of businesses that have played a part in Devon’s economy growing faster than the national average over the past decade.
That growth is set to continue, with investment in vital infrastructure making Devon even better connected. Companies looking for the next stage of growth or...
More than 1,100 jobs are expected to be created in Devon and Somerset following a £2.9 million Government investment that will boost the region’s rural economy by £58 million, Farming Minister, Jim Paice announced on his rural roadshow to the region.
Devon and Somerset is one of five regions to benefit from a Rural Growth Network, set up to help rural areas overcome the barriers to economic growth, such as a shortage of business premises and poor broadband access.
Mr Paice announced the Rural Growth Network funding on his rural roadshow to Devon. Defra rural roadshows allow...
