Ed Oldfield
Local Democracy Reporting Service

The new boss at City College Plymouth is facing calls to hand back a £100,000 bonus from his crisis-hit former college.

Image source, LDRS

Garry Phillips, who started his new role as principal and chief executive officer in July on a salary of £165,000, has been criticised for the financial mess he left Ealing, Hammersmith and West London College in when he departed in March.

The University and College Union (UCU) branch at West London College has written to him demanding he repays £100,000 in bonuses and apologises for the financial problems he left behind.

Meanwhile the UCU is also calling for a halt to proposed redundancies in Plymouth - believed to involve the loss of more than 50 academic and support posts by Christmas.

City College Plymouth and Mr Phillips have not commented on the situation since the report emerged last week.

The redundancies are part of a plan by the college to save £1.1m in staff costs and find £300,000 in other savings by the end of March to avoid a deficit.

Ben Woolvin
BBC South West Home Affairs correspondent

A House of Commons committee says the government must address the Devon and Cornwall Police Commissioner's concerns about police funding.

The Public Accounts Committee is calling for an urgent review of the police funding formula.

Today's report from MPs is the latest sign of a police service under pressure.

It says forces are dealing with more incidents which are not crime related while at the same time coping with fewer frontline staff.

There's a special mention for the Conservative Police Commissioner Alison Hernandez, who told MPs she believes communities in Devon and Cornwall no longer feel safe because of cuts to neighbourhood policing.

The government says it has already provided more funding for police than it did three years ago and is promising a review of police spending power next month.

BBC Radio Devon

Train travellers on the main line out of Devon and Cornwall are having to take buses between Exeter and Newton Abbot because of concerns that the track at Dawlish will be overwhelmed by rough seas.

Strong winds and high tides mean the line is expected to be closed until at least midday, said Network Rail

GWR will continue to operate trains between London Paddington and Exeter St Davids, and between Newton Abbot, Plymouth and Penzance.

However some early morning services may be cancelled at short notice or delayed. Customers should check before they travel for the very latest information., external

Those with tickets to travel on Wednesday will be able to use them to travel on Thursday instead - customers who choose not to travel will be entitled to a refund.

Network Rail Western Route managing director Mark Langman said: "“Safety is our priority and owing to expected extreme weather no services will be able to run through Dawlish and Teignmouth in the morning."

BBC Weather

It'll be a cloudy start to the day with further outbreaks of heavy and perhaps thundery rain.

However, the showers will become less prolonged during the morning as bright or sunny intervals also develop.

Later today the showers will begin to die away and it will become sunnier from the west towards the evening.

Moderate or fresh southerly winds will turn to the west and increase to near gale or gale force for a time later.

Devon

Cornwall