BBC Business News

The government has rejected BT's voluntary offer to connect remote homes, including those in rural areas, to superfast broadband and will enforce the legal right to an upgrade.

The government has promised access to speeds of at least 10 Mbps by 2020.

Openreach, owned by BT and responsible for the infrastructure, offered to speed up improvements to 1.1 million rural homes.

The government believes the regulatory Universal Service Obligation offers "certainty".

Under the plan, broadband providers will face a legal requirement to provide high-speed broadband to anyone requesting it, subject to a cost threshold.

Image source, PA

Andrew Segal
BBC Local Live

Image source, Daniel Murphy/The Wildlife Trusts/PA

More work is needed to make sure that an English pod of dolphins thrives, a wildlife trust says.

Plymouth University researchers identified England's only resident population of bottlenose dolphins after looking at thousands of sightings and photographs from the South West of England between 2007 and 2016.

The dolphins were present in shallow coastal waters mainly in Cornwall - particularly St Ives Bay and Mount's Bay, but also in Devon and Dorset.

Ruth Williams, marine conservation manager at the Cornwall Wildlife Trust, said the discovery was "incredibly exciting".

She said: "The future of these iconic animals is in our hands and we need to make sure the few we currently have in the South West are given the protection not just to survive, but to thrive."

BBC Radio Devon

• In Bovey Tracey, on Old Newton Road, around the A382 Monks Way, there are reports of an accident
• On the A38 at Wrangaton, heading towards Exeter, one lane is blocked due to an accident. Traffic is slow-moving with queues back to Ivybridge

BBC News Health

The UK's medical profession is at a "crunch point", facing the prospect of too few doctors to treat rising numbers of patients, the regulator says.

The General Medical Council says the supply of medics has failed to keep up with demand and warns against the over-reliance on overseas staff post-Brexit.

The GMC's Charlie Massey called it a "crucial moment" for UK healthcare.

It comes despite government promises in England to increase the number of doctors in training.

You can use the NHS Tracker to check how your area is performing.

Devon speed golfer Steve Jeffs breaks the Guinness World Record for completing a par five hole in the fastest time.

BBC Radio Devon

Image source, Google

Almost £1m is to be spent on improving Exeter's Pyramids Swimming and Leisure Centre.

The £950,000 plan was approved by the city council on Tuesday night.

The building was due to close at the end of next year but, due to delays in developing the city's bus station site, it will now close at the end of 2020.

The council added that the increased use of the pool, following a fire at the city's Riverside Leisure Centre in February, has "created additional strain on the mechanical systems serving the Pyramids".

Councillor Phil Bialyk said that, because of this, improvements were needed.

He said: "Pyramids will eventually be replaced by the brand new St Sidwell's Point at the bus station. But that is still three years away, and we need to take action to improve the Pyramids now."

Devon Live

The ‘tired looking’ Tuck’s Plot in Dawlish will be given a new lease of life after planners approved a new 12-hole safari-themed mini golf course, external.

Andrew Segal
BBC Local Live

Police in north Devon are hunting the attacker of a man who was left with a broken collarbone in an assault.

Officers said, external the victim, a man in his 20s, was attacked in Ilfracombe High Street in the early hours of Saturday.

An unknown male offender approached the victim and punched him in the side of the head and pushed him to the ground between 03:00 and 03:30 at the Chick ‘n’ Land takeaway.

Police have appealed for witnesses.

Alex Osborne
BBC Weather

If you're planning a trip to the coast or seaside, here are the next high water times around Devon and Cornwall.

We'll have the latest forecast on BBC Spotlight at 13:30.

The crew of Royal Navy's flagship, Plymouth-based HMS Ocean, is due to take Christmas leave after the ship arrived home from its final foreign deployment a day early due to foggy weather.

The helicopter carrier and amphibious assault craft returned to her Devonport base on Tuesday evening instead of Wednesday.

The warship left Plymouth at the end of August for security duties in the Mediterranean. She was then re-tasked at the beginning of September to take humanitarian aid to British overseas territories hit by Hurricane Irma.

On board during her deployment were Royal Marines from Taunton-based 40 Commando, helicopters from 820, 845 and 847 Royal Naval Air Squadron based in Culdrose and Yeovilton, and RAF Chinook helicopters.

The ship will go back to sea in British waters before she is decommissioned around March next year.

BBC Radio Devon

The A38 heading towards Exeter is partially blocked due to an accident at Wrangaton. Traffic is slow moving.

A pod of 28 bottlenose dolphins is found to be permanently living off the south-west coast of England.

Andrew Segal
BBC Local Live

Farm machinery, sawdust and dry paper bedding have been damaged in a fire on a farm in Devon.

Fire crews were called to Aylescott Farm in Burrington at about 06:30 after the blaze broke out in a 82ft (25m) by 98ft (30m) building.

The building contained about 200 tonnes of sawdust.

Three fire engines and a water carrier are on site, dealing with hotspots and damping down.

Crews were expected to be there for another couple of hours, Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service said, external.

Andrew Segal
BBC Local Live

Post Offices in Devon and Cornwall will be among those in the network to get £370m in new government funding.

About £160m of the money will be used to protect village community branches, Business Secretary Greg Clark said.

The three-year funding deal, running from next April, comes as the Post Office announced it had moved into profit for the first time in 16 years.

Unions dismissed claims the investment would save the network, arguing that it was just "managing decline".

In addition to the money for village branches, some £210m will be used to modernise services and technology.

Some branches in the counties have closed or moved into other premises, such as local shops, including branches in, Penzance (pictured) Plymouth and Truro moving to WH Smith stores.

BBC News UK

Homelessness in England is a "national crisis" and the government's attitude to tackling it is "unacceptably complacent", a committee of MPs say.

A Public Accounts Committee report found there were more than 9,000 rough sleepers and some 78,000 families living in temporary accommodation.

The cross-party research said there was a shortage of housing options for homeless people and those at risk.

The government says it is investing more than £1bn on the problem.

Image source, Getty Images

The superintendent's comments come after new figures showed a significant rise in the number of assaults on police officers across the South West.

Police figures show more than 760 staff have been attacked across both the Devon & Cornwall and Dorset forces this year - an increase of 145 attacks from 2016.

The Police Federation is campaigning for tougher sentences.

Sophie Pierce
BBC Radio Devon

Teachers at a small private school in Paignton say they're delighted at winning a legal battle to get it put into administration.

Twenty-three teachers at the Element School - formerly Tower House - took the action after not being paid. Together they are owed £112,000 in unpaid wages.

The high court in Bristol ruled the school should be put into administration and that the directors' powers should be removed.

Head of Maths Nick Schofield, one of those who took the action, said: "Twenty-three teachers were prepared to pay their own money because they felt that what was happening to the school was to the detriment of the children."

The Guardian

An historian claims Jacob Marley was based on a real man that Charles Dickens met during visits to Cornwall, external, with passages and descriptions also rooted in the county.

Andrew Segal
BBC Local Live

Image source, Dan Murphy

England's only resident population of bottlenose dolphins has been discovered by researchers.

Thousands of sightings and photographs from the South West of England between 2007 and 2016 have been analysed by experts at Plymouth University.

They identified 98 individual bottlenose dolphins and were able to define a distinct group of 28 that were resident throughout the year.

These dolphins were present in shallow coastal waters mainly in Cornwall - particularly St Ives Bay and Mount's Bay, but also in Devon and Dorset.

Ruth Williams, marine conservation manager at the Cornwall Wildlife Trust, said it was an "incredibly exciting" discovery.