South West

Torquay-based Dave Morris (26) has left a 10 year military career with The Royal Air Force (RAF) to launch an exciting new commercial business, ‘Nomad LED’, the UK’s first all-electric, emission free, fleet of mobile advertising vehicles sourced in Europe. And the newly launched company is already drawing attention in the region including Torbay Council and the Police for a potential local community event.

Nomad’s innovative fleet of electrically-powered vehicles equipped with state-of-the-art LED display screens, are designed to provide a cost-effective means of delivering a...

Thousands of renters in the South West are too scared of being evicted to ask their private landlord to fix a problem in their home, according to research from the charity Shelter released today. A YouGov poll of more than 4,500 private renters across the country found that 1 in 12 renters (8%) in the South West avoided asking their landlord to repair a problem or improve conditions in the last year because they feared eviction. According to the poll, 1 in 33 (3%) of private renters said they had actually been evicted or served with an eviction notice because they complained to their...

Primary school pupils across Devon have been bravely examining the rubbish produced by their packed lunches over the past few weeks in readiness of the County-wide “Waste Free Lunch” week campaign from 10th – 14th March.

Donning gloves, and with strong stomachs, children have been weighing waste, sorting snacks and picking out packaging from the mountain of rubbish generated every day after lunch time.

The aim of the campaign is to reduce the amount of waste produced by packed lunches in schools, and to share innovative ideas for packing “waste free” lunches with pupils,...

A 15ft great white shark named Lydia is on course to arrive at the South West coast later this week coast according to scientists tracking her via satellite tag.

Lydia, already the first recorded example of her species to cross the Atlantic, is now less than 1000 miles from UK shores and if she keeps to her current course and speed may arrive at the Cornish coast within a few days.

Lydia was first tagged off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida, last March by the researchers for the Ocearch scientific project and since then US scientists have been tracking Lydia for 19,000...

An extra £140 million of road repair funding has been pledged by the Government this weekend to aid clear-ups following the severe winter storms.

The extra funding, announced by the Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin on Sunday (9 March), will see a further £103.5 million of funding spread across all UK local authorities while another £36.5 million will be targeted only on the worst hit areas.

While it is still uncertain how much of this funding will be made available to repair Devon’s 8,000 mile road network, the extra funding is unlikely to make much impact to the...

Haines Watts Rural Business farming consultant Lucy Thomas has been kept busy helping agricultural clients to apply for the latest round of ‘Catchment Sensitive Farming’ Capital Grants at various locations around the South West.

The scheme is part of the Catchment Sensitive Farming project which provides advice to farmers to help them implement changes in farming that reduce the risk of both water pollution, and the regulation being applied to farming to achieve required water quality standards. Catchment Sensitive Farming (CSF) delivers practical solutions and targeted support to...

South West High streets are set to become ‘dementia friendly’ as several major retailers commit to offering their staff training to help those with the condition. The initiative launched by the Alzhiemer’s society will see staff at 60 Homebase and Argos stores as well as some branches of Marks and Spencer and Lloyds bank train to become ‘Dementia Friends’ who help people with dementia live more independently. Between them, they have committed to create over 121,500 Dementia Friends in shops and banks across the UK. Angie Newing, Regional Director for Alzheimer’s Society in the South West,...

Fire services in the south west have joined together to identify the seven fatal factors that link most home fire deaths in the region. The report has been compiled using research data from a total of 88 deaths from 2008 to 2013.

The results show that there are seven common factors in most house fires resulting in death

The seven most common linking factors include: living alone, poor mental health and limited mobility as well as smoking, alcohol, poor housekeeping and use of both prescription or illegal drugs. Station Manager Andy Justice, Fire Investigation Manager for...

Youth charity The Prince’s Trust is urging more unemployed young people in the South West to embrace their inner entrepreneur and explore the option of self-employment thanks to financial backing from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

The Prince’s Trust Enterprise Programme, which helps jobless young people to start up in business, has already created more than £3.1 million in social value for the South West alone, according to research published by the charity last year .

Supported with investment from ERDF, from now until June 2015, over 1,300 more young...