Council closes coastal path and warns beachgoers to stay clear after landslip at Jacob’s Ladder Beach
The views from the old thatched cottage perched on top of Sidmouth cliffs in Devon have always been spectacular.
Now, though, they are downright terrifying after part of the 185m-year-old sandstone cliff collapsed, leaving the period property teetering on the edge of a 400ft drop.
Continue reading...Heritage orchard at RHS Rosemoor to be sampled this spring as part of search for previously unrecorded ‘survivor’ cultivars
Gardeners are searching for lost apple varieties by sequencing the genetics of trees in ancient orchards, in the hope they hold traits that can help the fruit survive climate breakdown.
Heritage apple trees at the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) garden Rosemoor will be sampled this spring with the aim of finding species of apple enjoyed by people hundreds of years ago.
Continue reading...Police appeal for witnesses after tortoises’ bodies discovered last week in Devon
The bodies of seven giant tortoises have been discovered in a forest in Devon, triggering a police investigation.
The Aldabra giant tortoises, one of the largest tortoise species in the world, were found dead the National Trust’s Ashclyst Forest, and Devon and Cornwall police are appealing for witnesses.
Continue reading...After 11-year wait for inquest into his death in custody, relatives say Devon and Cornwall police still need to admit mistakes
One of the most poignant moments for Alison Orchard came when she was sorting out her son Thomas’s room after his fatal collapse while in police custody.
Over the years, Thomas Orchard had experienced mental health problems and had not been allowed to fulfil one of his ambitions: to drive.
Continue reading...Thomas Orchard died a week after a mental health crisis in which police put an ‘emergency response belt’ over his face
Prolonged use of a heavy webbing belt by police over the face of a vulnerable man during a mental health crisis may have contributed to his death, an inquest jury has concluded.
The way officers used the belt on church caretaker Thomas Orchard would have hampered his ability to breathe and increased his stress levels, the jury said.
Continue reading...William became largest private landholder in the national park when he inherited Duchy of Cornwall
Campaigners are urging Prince William to invest in significant rewilding across swathes of Dartmoor’s predominantly farmed land.
The land became William’s after he inherited the Duchy of Cornwall, an extensive landholding including the largest privately owned area of Dartmoor national park, from his father, King Charles, when he succeeded to the throne.
Continue reading...Danger-to-life warning issued as first named storm of autumn damages buildings and disrupts travel
Gusts of 70mph were recorded as the first named storm of the autumn, Agnes, swept across Britain and Ireland, damaging buildings, causing travel delays and leaving homes without power.
The Met Office issued severe weather warnings covering much of the UK, where strong winds and heavy rain were expected on Wednesday evening and into Thursday.
Continue reading...The 87-mile trail follows the River Tamar and links with other routes to create circular walk around whole county
Following the banks of one of the UK’s great rivers, a new walking way has been unveiled linking the north and south coasts of Cornwall and for the first time creating a circular walk around the whole of the county.
The 87-mile (140km) Tamara Coast to Coast Way broadly tracks the River Tamar, which forms most of the border between Cornwall and Devon, taking in landscapes ranging from wooded valley to rolling farmland, heather-covered moors and areas shaped by the region’s mining history.
Continue reading...Average cost of property in Devon town reached £1,244,025 last year, driven by second home owners
“Don’t hate me,” said Theo Spink of the view from her office on Tuesday afternoon, “but the sun is shining, there’s a gentle breeze, people are arriving for Easter, eating ice-cream. It’s all rather charming.”
If the town of Salcombe, situated on the neck of a narrow estuary in south Devon, sounds idyllic, that is because “it really, really is”, she said. “When the sun shines, you could be in the Mediterranean. It is that beautiful.”
Continue reading...‘Catastrophic’ failings that allowed gunman to kill five people increase pressure to overhaul 1968 legislation
Senior police officers, families of shooting victims and anti-gun campaigners have called for a “radical reform” of the firearms licensing system after an inquest jury found “catastrophic” failings allowed the Plymouth gunman, Jake Davison, to legally possess a shotgun that he used to kill five people.
Pressure is mounting on the UK government to overhaul the 50-year-old licensing legislation and ensure police forces are adequately funded to allow them to fully examine the suitability of gun owners.
Continue reading...More than 3,000 people protest on estate of Alexander Darwall after his court victory ends right to wild camp in England
More than 3,000 people joined one of the UK’s largest ever countryside access protests on Saturday on the Dartmoor estate of a wealthy landowner who won a case ending the right to wild camp in England.
Groups of walkers, families, students and local people arrived by foot, shuttle bus and bike to the small Dartmoor village of Cornwood throughout the morning and then thronged for hours along moss- and ivy-draped lanes up on to the rugged, boulder-strewn moorland owned by the Conservative party donor and hedge fund manager Alexander Darwall.
Continue reading...Former MP for Tiverton and Honiton resigned after admitting watching pornography in Commons
A former MP who quit after admitting watching pornography in the Commons said he was thinking of standing again at the next general election.
Neil Parish resigned from his Tiverton and Honiton seat after declaring that he was the politician whom other MPs had spotted watching X-rated material in parliament.
Continue reading...Capital now top location by some distance after Cornwall led for several months during pandemic
The lockdown dream of leaving the city behind and owning a spacious house in the countryside or by the sea faded in 2022 as homebuyers picked up where they left off before the pandemic: house hunting in London.
Rightmove said the capital was 2022’s top location by some distance with searches 9% higher than last year. Meanwhile the number of searches for homes in Cornwall and Devon fell sharply although the counties, famous for their spectacular coastlines, hung on to second and third place on the property website’s annual list of most searched for locations.
Continue reading...Slow-driving convoy caused long delays to those heading to Devon and Cornwall on the first day of the school holidays
Protesters campaigning against high fuel prices have disrupted holiday getaways to the south-west of England by driving in convoy slowly up and down a motorway before blockading a petrol station.
The convoy drove at 30mph on three lanes of the M5 north and south in Somerset and the Bristol area on Friday morning as tens of thousands of people headed to Devon and Cornwall to begin summer breaks.
Continue reading...This live blog is now closed, you can find our latest UK political coverage here
This is from James Johnson, a Tory pollster (who worked for Theresa May in No 10) whose firm JL Partners carried out polling in Wakefield, on who ought to be taking the blame for the byelection defeats.
PM Media has just snapped this.
Boris Johnson has said he will “listen” to voters but will “keep going” after the Tories suffered a double by-election defeat.
Continue reading...Loss of Wakefield, and Tiverton and Honiton could push backbench Tories towards restarting efforts to oust PM
Voting has closed for two crucial byelections, in Wakefield and in Tiverton and Honiton, the results of which could play a pivotal role in Boris Johnson’s political future.
Defeat in both of what were previously Tory-held seats could reignite a challenge to the prime minister from disgruntled Conservative MPs, particularly if the Liberal Democrats overturn a 24,000-plus majority in Tiverton and Honiton.
Continue reading...Helen Hurford, Tory candidate in Tiverton and Honiton, blames media for stopping public from moving on from Partygate
The Conservative candidate in Tiverton and Honiton has blamed the media for preventing the public from “moving on” from Partygate and twice declined to say that Boris Johnson was honest.
In an interview with the Guardian, Helen Hurford acknowledged the party faced a very tight battle to retain the previously ultra-safe seat and criticised what she called the media’s “persistent regurgitating of Partygate”. Asked if she believed Boris Johnson was fundamentally honest, Hurford twice refused to say.
Continue reading...Alex Wood and Alison Tilsley were with four other people when vessel overturned in lake
Police have named two care home residents who died after a boat capsized in a Devon lake.
Alex Wood, 43, and Alison Tilsley, 63, known as Ali, were on the vessel with four other people when it overturned in Roadford Lake near Okehampton last Wednesday.
Continue reading...Anger grows before West Country byelection as farmers say they will be left poorer and unable to compete with foreign producers
Boris Johnson’s hopes of surviving as prime minister have been dealt a serious blow after farmers and environmentalists condemned his government’s post-Brexit food strategy as a disaster for people in the countryside – with less than two weeks to go before a key rural byelection.
In an interview with the Observer, the president of the National Farmers Union, Minette Batters, said ambitious proposals to help farmers increase food production, first put forward last year by the government’s food tsar, Henry Dimbleby, had been “stripped to the bone” in a new policy document, and meant farmers would not be able to produce affordable food.
Continue reading...Four people rescued and search continues at Roadford Lake near Okehampton
Rescuers are looking for two people missing after a boat capsized in south Devon.
Police said four people had been rescued from Roadford Lake, near Okehampton. Two were discharged by paramedics at the scene and two were taken to Derriford hospital for treatment. Their condition is unknown.
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