Cranes have been halted twice because of safety alerts during a £200m refuel of a Trident submarine.

Bringing you the news, sport, travel and weather for Devon and Cornwall on Thursday 6 December 2018

Some residents in a Cornish town cannot afford to buy a home there, while dozens of properties stand empty.

Chris Quevatre
BBC News Online

A Cornwall MP has said she supports the draft agreement that details how the UK will leave the European Union.

It follows a string of ministerial resignations and talk of a no-confidence vote from Tory MPs who say they've lost faith in Theresa May.

MP for Truro and Falmouth Sarah Newton said the agreement has "delivered on what the referendum mandated".

"We will be leaving the EU in March next year, the right to free movement will end, we will take back control of our laws, and we will be leaving the Single Market."

"We will become an independent coastal nation," she added.

The worms are scheduled to arrive at the International Space Station (ISS) on Saturday morning.

Poland and Taunton winger Aron Struminksi explains how he came to play for a country he had never previously visited.

Dan Downs
Weather Forecaster

Wednesday night will see extensive low cloud with mist and fog possible over the hills.

A few patches of drizzle are possible too. A mild night.

Minimum temperature: 9 to 12C (48 to 54F).

A mostly dry start to Thursday but with low cloud, hill fog and local drizzle.

Longer spells of rain are expected during the afternoon, some of which could be heavy. Rather windy but very mild.

Maximum temperature: 10 to 13C (50 to 55F).

BBC Radio Cornwall

Any stadium in Cornwall should be built near the airport at Newquay and not at the site currently planned near Truro, a Cornwall Councillor says.

Bert Biscoe has called the current proposal for the £14.3m Stadium for Cornwall, planned for Threemilestone, as "hopeless" because he did not believe the funding would be forthcoming from the government to match Cornwall Council money.

The government must say whether or not it will spend £3m towards building the stadium, council leader Adam Paynter said earlier.

A request for the cash was made to the government which would be match-funded by Cornwall Council following an agreement in April. But no commitment has been made by the government.

Cllr Biscoe said a development site near the airport would create a more viable venue...

Daniel Clark
Local Democracy Reporting Service

Image source, LDRS

Campaigners fighting to save the Cowick Barton Oak from being cut down have tied themselves to the tree as a protest against Exeter City Council’s plans.

Residents who use the park regularly for sports say they are gobsmacked that the council consider cutting the tree down as the only option.

Nearly 900 outraged residents have signed a petition to save the tree and wildlife experts are asking for a survey to be done before the authority takes further action.

The council said that public safety was paramount when assessing damaged trees, a branch crashing down could kill someone, and that the tree was not being cut down but just monolithed as the "best solution for safety".

Joe Levy, from the St Thomas Community Association, said: "Residents really care about this tree and want to have a say in its future, and it is clear we need to save this tree."

The council said the tree was damaged in a recent storm and closer inspection revealed numerous areas of scarring and decay over the years.

Donna Birrell
BBC Radio Cornwall

A Cornish sailor taking part in the Golden Globe race has lost her mast in the southern Pacific ocean.

Susie Goodall, from Falmouth, who at 29 is the youngest competitor in the race, was lying about 2,000 miles west of Cape Horn.

Her distress signal was first picked up by Falmouth Coastguards who then alerted race control and the Chilean Maritime Search and Rescue authorities, who are responsible for that sector of the Pacific.

Susie was lying in fourth place at the time, riding out a ferocious storm with 60-knot winds and massive seas aboard her 36ft yacht, DHL Starlight.

Race controllers have contacted her and said she was safe and secure on board, but she could not make up another set of rigging.

Susie told them the only things still intact were the hull and the deck, and she was injured when the boat rolled over end-to-end, knocking her out and giving her a "nasty head bang".

She also tweeted that she was "totally and utterly gutted" at what had happened.

The nearest vessel has been alerted but is about two days away.

Andrew Segal
BBC South West

Work has begun on tower blocks in Plymouth to remove dangerous cladding made of similar material to that which caused the spread of the Grenfell Tower fire.

Tests on the Mount Wise estate's three blocks were carried out in the wake of the huge blaze in west London, which left more than 70 people dead in June 2017.

The three red, blue and green towers are a major landmark for the Devonport area. The 16-storey towers were designed and built in the early 1960s.

Scaffolding is currently being installed around Lynher House

The works are expected to take about 66 weeks to complete, and are due to include replacing of all of the towers' windows.

Torquay United boss Gary Johnson urges his side to keep the winning habit after going top of National League South.

Del Crookes
BBC News Online

Image source, Getty Images

Travelodge, which already has seven sites across Cornwall, said it was planning to open eight more hotels across the county - including one on the Isles of Scilly.

The company said the proposed expansion would represent an investment of £50m for third-party investors and would create around 160 new jobs.

Potential locations included Bude, Falmouth, the Isles of Scilly, Looe/Fowey, Newquay, Penzance, St Ives and Truro.

Andrew Segal
BBC South West

Two out of three operating theatres currently out of action at Torbay Hospital are to remain closed "until at least May", with the possibility that only one of those will be able to re-open then, managers say.

Three theatres were initially closed last week, external because of problems with ventilation. The hospital has 10 theatres.

It will mean about 250 patients will have their operations cancelled, postponed or rearranged between now and Christmas.

Interim Chief Operating Officer John Harrison said staff anticipated being able to re-open one of the theatres "by the end of this week" after replacing a broken part.

But he added that, of the two others, "it is possible we will only be able to re-open one rather than both".

He said: "We are investigating options to build a new theatre on site, as well as bringing forward plans to replace our ageing theatres."

The hospital said it was sincerely sorry for any distress, inconvenience or pain caused to patients.

BBC Radio Cornwall

People in parts of Cornwall are being urged by police to lock doors and windows properly when they go out because of an increase in break-ins.

Officers said the Bodmin and Wadebridge areas had seen a spate of burglaries.

Social media users are also being advised not to publicise any Christmas travel plans, which could alert thieves to an empty property.

Del Crookes
BBC News Online

Image source, St Austell Community Fire Station

Fire crews said no-one was hurt after a car overturned on the A3058 outside St Austell.

Firefighters made the car and the scene of the crash in the High Street safe.

The accident happened just before 14:00 between Lanjeth and Trewoon.

Image source, St Austell Community Fire Station

BBC Radio Devon

About 150 people queueing in heavy rain for a Christmas concert were turned away after a caretaker of the council-run venue failed to turn up to open its doors for the show.

The annual concert at Harewood House in Plympton by Sandy’s Songbirds and Plymchords was raising money for mental health charity Mind for Young People.

Calls to the council’s advertised phone numbers, including a mobile phone, all went unanswered after problems arose on Saturday, organisers said.

The hall, run by Plymouth City Council, was booked in January and the reservation was confirmed on Thursday after the dress rehearsal for the sell-out concert.

Musical director Sandy Van Soest said it was "devastating" for choir members, who had been rehearsing for several months.

Image source, Google

The council apologised, admitting that what happened was "clearly not acceptable and must have been incredibly disappointing for everyone involved".

It said: "We apologised to the musical director on Monday and reassured her we would investigate why the building was not opened and why calls went unanswered as a matter of urgency."

The concert has been rescheduled at Harewood House for Saturday, 5 January at 19:30.

Exeter director of rugby Rob Baxter says he expects England hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie to stay at Sandy Park.

Andrew Segal
BBC South West

Image source, Devon and Cornwall Police

A mental health nurse who had sex with a teenage girl in his care had to admit his crimes because of the "overwhelming body of evidence we had against him", police say.

Givemore Gezi, 40, has been jailed for seven years and eight months for sexual activity with a child and sexual activity by a carer with a person with a mental disorder.

Gezi started treating the girl in 2017 before going on to abuse her.

The senior nurse, of Maidenway Road, Paignton, exploited her vulnerability by grooming her. She later became pregnant and he persuaded her to have an abortion, Exeter Crown Court was told.

Det Con Andy Gillette, from Devon and Cornwall Police, said Gezi used his trusted position to abuse a vulnerable person.

He added that anyone who had concerns relating to Gezi and "the contact they may have had with him" should "approach police for support".

The photo, which was taken by a speed camera van, is branded "seriously stupid" on social media.