Summary

  • MP calls for more work to tackle "county lines" drug gangs

  • Cornwall Council tax to increase by 3.99%

  • Parts of Paignton 'a no-go area at night due to crime'

  • Shock at watersports ban at lake

  • Protest against dredging waste being dumped off Teignmouth

  • Exeter's Labour MP welcomes any move to hold fresh referendum vote

  • Consultation over dog bans on Cornwall beaches in summer

  • Public inquiry into quarry expansion row

  • Dartmoor rangers have policing powers renewed

  • Updates from Tuesday 26 February 2019

Live Reporting

  1. Protest against dredging waste being dumped off Teignmouth

    John Ayres
    BBC Spotlight

    Dredging protest

    More than 100 protesters gathered in Teignmouth on Monday night, angry at proposals to dump silt dredged from Exmouth Marina just off Teignmouth's tourist beaches.

    Last year, a licence to dump the spoil off Sprey Point was suspended after black silt appeared on Teignmouth's shore, causing uproar in the town.

    The protest, outside the Carlton Theatre, was ahead of a presentation by the Teign Estuary and Coastal Partnership, which was updating residents on plans for the area. Protesters said they wanted the spoil dumped much further away.

    Teignmouth black sand

    The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) is consulting on a revised application for a new licence which would involve 65% less spoil being dumped, and it only happening in the winter months.

    However, locals have said they were still opposing the plans.

    Last week, Teignmouth Town Council also unanimously said it opposed dumping of dredged spoil off its shore.

    The MMO said it was working with Exmouth Marina, which needed to dredge because it needed to maintain access to boats. It added that its current public consultation would run until 4 March.