A Westcountry BBC boss has fired off a stinging email to the corporation's director general questioning massive cuts to local radio.BBC Radio Cornwall is facing a 22 per cent reduction in output and a 14 per cent budget cut.Pauline Causey, managing edi...
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Plans to modernise Europe's farm policy have been dismissed by the Government as a lost opportunity to cut costs and wean farmers off hefty subsidies which keep the sector afloat.
European Commission proposals are designed to deliver a more environmen...
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Unemployment continues to rise in the Westcountry as the national jobless total reached a 17-year high.
More pressure was heaped on the Government as the latest official figures showed unemployment increased by 114,000 to 2.57 million – the wo...
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A LEADING first aid organisation is hoping to help Par businesses save thousands of pounds each year with a series of courses to help prevent back pain.St John Ambulance will hold four courses in the principles of moving and handling from its training ...
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CORNWALL Council has said it has been left with "no alternative" but to make changes to the county's concessionary bus fare scheme.A "significant" reduction in Government funding has led to the authority having to make changes.Residents in South East C...
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Farming EditorFarmers in the South West say their sons and daughters plan to stay on the land and will take over from them when they retire.An upbeat agricultural survey, carried out by Westcountry accountancy firm A C Mole & Sons, showed more than...
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The consequences of proposed 20 per cent cuts to the BBC's budget were being digested in the Westcountry yesterday amid fears that job losses and shared programming could destroy the identity of local radio.Swingeing cuts of 14 per cent will have to ...
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PENWITH Housing Association tenants could see their rents rise by up to a quarter as a result of government funding cuts.The Penzance-based organisation has also refused to rule out future job losses as it plans for a future where government funding wi...
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The South West needs a "task force" to reverse a chronic youth unemployment problem which costs the economy £10 million a week and threatens an exodus of talent, business and charity leaders claim.The number of jobless youngsters in Devon and Cor...
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Homes in the countryside have risen in value by almost £600 a month in the past decade and are now worth £27,000 more than urban properties, a new report says.However, more localised figures for the Westcountry show even steeper rises, with...
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London Editor in ManchesterGeorge Osborne yesterday promised cash to end mobile telephone black-spots that blight rural communities as he ruled out tax cuts to lift the economic gloom.The Chancellor has committed £150 million to install more phon...
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Fish worth more than £60 million was landed at Westcountry ports last year – up almost £10 million on 2009 – according to official Government figures.In all, more than 43,000 tonnes of fish and shellfish were landed at the eight...
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An "ingenious" scheme to help first-time buyers climb onto the first rung of the property ladder is being pioneered by a Westcountry council in a bid to tackle a crisis in affordable housing.The move by Cornwall Council to set up an equity loan scheme ...
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Chancellor George Osborne will today pave the way for Westcountry authorities to freeze council tax next year.Every council in Devon and Cornwall has opted against a hike in the levy this year after being given cash from Whitehall instead.In his speech...
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Fewer than half of the staff and officers at Devon and Cornwall police force, which is shedding 1,000 posts because of budget cuts, think it is a good place to work, an internal survey has shown.The number of staff who said they thought the force was...
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The housing market in the South West is beginning to move again steadily after "wary" buyers started making offers, estate agents claim.The National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) says figures showing the highest number of house hunters for four y...
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Nearly half of the parents of young girls in Cornwall are failing to ensure they receive a life-saving vaccine which protects against a type of cancer – bucking the South West-wide trend.According to figures just released, an astonishing 45 p...
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The South West is facing dangerously high shortages of midwives as the region's birthrate continues to rocket, experts have warned.Hundreds more midwives are needed in the Westcountry to keep up with the baby boom says a recent report by the RCM &ndash...
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South West Water has been revealed as one of the worst in the country for receiving complaints, with bills and charges ranking as the most contentious issue for customers.The company came second in a league table of water and sewerage providers for rec...
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Cornwall is facing a year-on-year rise in the number of diabetes cases linked to obesity, as waistlines in the county continue to expand.According to the latest research, 2,000 new cases of Type 2 diabetes have been registered in the last year alone. A...
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Burglary in some areas of the Westcountry has leapt by 34 per cent in recent months amid concerns that offences are being driven by economic hardship.Dire predictions that acquisitive crime could spiral as the country plunged into recession failed to m...
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