Work to remove cladding from three Plymouth tower blocks 'to begin in the next few days' - local MP
--- Material used in the towers similar to Grenfell
--- 24-hour patrols in place at blocks
--- Plymouth Community Homes taking 'immediate precautions'
Shorts to become part of uniform at skirt protest school
Firefighters called back to St Agnes Beacon as gorse fire reignites
Basking sharks 'abandon' Cornish coast
Updates on Friday 23 June 2017
Live updates for Devon and Cornwall have finished for the day, but we'll be back at 08:00 on Monday with the latest news, sport, travel and weather.
Don't forget Spotlight on BBC One later. There will also be news through the night and the weekend on your BBC Local Radio station.
Sian Davies
BBC News Online
John Charrington, who lives in one of three Plymouth tower blocks that are to have their fire-risk cladding removed says he's a "bit nervous" while the material is still on.
Plymouth Community Homes, managers of the three Mount Wise tower blocks, say the cladding, which is similar to the material on the Grenfell towers, will be off in days.
Mr Charrington, 67, said: "When I saw the pictures from London I thought 'That's the cladding going up'.
"You could see the way it was whizzing up the building.
"The next day people were chatting about whether it was safe.
"There's been lots of people here checking the buildings and photographing alarms, but I've got no idea how long it's going to take them."
James Law
BBC Sport Online
Penzance have signed spinner James Sykes after he left County Championship side Leicestershire by mutual consent yesterday.
The 25-year-old made his white-ball debut for Leicestershire in 2012, with his first four-day appearance coming in 2013.
Image source, Getty ImagesLeft-arm spinner James Sykes took 45 wickets in all formats of the game for Leicestershire.
Jonathan Morris
BBC News Online
The Ten Commandments written in stone on two giant slabs on Dartmoor are getting a tidy up.
The monument was created in 1928 to celebrate the rejection by parliament of the proposed new Book of Common Prayer.
But both slabs have been weather worn over the decades and now they are being conserved thanks to £16,000 from the Parishscapes project and the Dartmoor National Park Communities Fund.
A Banksy-esque artist has revealed details of his mission to inspire residents of Cornwall, external to protect their (graffiti) penises.
A team of people are going to camping with a difference at the Eden Project on Saturday night.
They are going to be in special tents hanging from the roof of the biomes.
Image source, Eden ProjectIt's being done to raise awareness of the critically-endangered Borneo rainforest.
Among those camping up high are scientists, film maker and adventurers.
Dan Downs, Weather Forecaster
Cloud will continue to spread further to the southeast bringing outbreaks of mostly light rain and drizzle from the northwest along with low cloud, mist and patches of hill fog.
Moderate or fresh southwesterly winds will become lighter during the night. Min Temp 14C (57F).
It'll be a cloudy and rather damp morning with some further outbreaks of light rain or drizzle.
Cloud will also cover the hills at times before drier and perhaps brighter weather moves in from the west during the afternoon.
Light or moderate southwesterly winds will be fresher on the south coast and will veer to the northwest later in the day. Max Temp 20C (68F).
Sian Davies
BBC News Online
Diane McHenry, who has lived in one of three at-risk Plymouth tower blocks for 24 years, said she was crying when she saw the Grenfell Tower tragedy on the news.
The Mount Wise Towers are to have their cladding removed after the material was found to be similar to the Grenfell towers.
"I felt safe anyway - we have good smoke alarms - but it's good that they're taking it off," she said.
"It's filthy and disgusting and should have come down years ago."
The Isles of Scilly Steamship Company has reacted angrily to suggestions it is a 'self-interested monopoly'.
The claims have been made by TravelWatch SouthWest, a travel watchdog, which supports a revived helicopter link to the islands.
A judicial review is going to be held after the steamship company challenged the proposals.
In a statement it said: "It is deeply disappointing that TravelWatch SouthWest made no attempt whatsoever to discuss any of their concerns with us before publishing their letter."
"It shows a very poor and simplistic understanding of the Penzance heliport proposal and the travel market to Scilly, and is a one-sided view of a complex situation.
"We do not oppose a competing helicopter operation but seriously question its impact on the transport network if operated from Penzance.
"There is no monopoly, and we reject accusations of self-interest. We will be contacting TravelWatch to try and give them a better understanding of this complex issue."
A teenager has been cleared of raping a 17-year-old girl after she fell asleep in his bedroom but found guilty of groping her, external.
Devon and Cornwall's Police and Crime Commissioner says she doesn't support vigilantism but she won't be retracting her comments about licensed gun owners helping to defend their communities in the event of a terrorist attack.
Alison Hernandez said she wanted to stimulate a debate when making to the comments to BBC Radio Cornwall, to discuss what would happen if a member of the public shot someone.
Police chief in armed civilians row
Today on BBC Radio Devon she said she wants people to follow police advice and run, hide and tell in the event of a terror attack.
Sian Davies
BBC News Online
Government should be 'clear' they'll cover cost of emergency repair, says Plymouth MP
Tower-block resident Steve didn't sleep at home last night. He was told cladding on the block of flats in Plymouth where he lives had been given the lowest possible safety score, and said it was "human instinct" to be concerned.
Steve lives at Mount Wise Towers - made up of three blocks - Tavy, Tamar and Lynher - which are coloured blue, red and green respectively.
The blocks dominate the Devonport skyline, a historically industrial area of the city which houses the biggest dockyard in Western Europe, are run by housing provider Plymouth Community Homes.
Devonport is among the 10% of the most deprived areas in the country, and is the most deprived of Plymouth's 39 neighbourhoods.
Steve, 34, who lives in Tamar - or the red tower - said he felt nervous following the fire at Grenfell, in west London, which left at least 79 people dead.
"I slept somewhere else last night," he said. "It was just the initial thought of finding out about our flats after what happened in London. You think, if it happened in London, if it did happen here it doesn't bear thinking about."
Live, so-called pop-up music, will be allowed at Penzance's Mazey Day this weekend.
There were some concerns musicians playing on the street and in pubs could be banned at tomorrow's big festival day in Penzance because of licensing laws.
However, councillors say they've persuaded the police not to prosecute anyone playing at the event.
An Exmouth woman has been fined more than £1,400 for fly tipping.
Jill O'Donnell of Old Bystock Drive, Exmouth Place, pleaded guilty and was fined £1,451.
Exeter Magistrates Court heard she dumped more than 20 bags of domestic waste and some old carpets in the service lane behind her home during the summer of last year.
She was also ordered to pay costs of £85 and a victim surcharge of £145.
The chairman of the Magistrates told the defendant: "It is clear that council officers bent over backwards to try to help you but you did not accept it. This was a deliberate act which we regard as a serious offence."
BBC News Travel
A number of complaints were made to Perranzabuloe Parish Council on Tuesday after people spotted diggers cutting back the large dunes, external that Perranporth beach is famous for.
BBC News Travel
Jonathan Morris
BBC News Online
Boys who wore skirts to school in a protest have won the right to wear shorts to lessons from next year.
The boys from Exeter's ISCA Academy had been told shorts were banned because they were not part of the uniform.
But the school has now said "as summers are becoming hotter" shorts will be brought in as uniform next year.
It said it could not allow an immediate change to uniforms because it "would put undue pressure on some of our families".
Pottery workers in North Staffordshire are being headhunted to work 200 miles away in Devon, external - with a £500 'welcome' bonus for each new recruit.
