A Devon couple say their house has been left looking "like a warzone".

Amy Gladwell
BBC News Online

A man in his 20s has been taken to hospital after a collision between a car and a pedestrian in Newquay, police have said.

The man suffered multiple injuries in the incident on Cliff Road at about 15:15 on Thursday, the Devon & Cornwall force said.

BBC Radio Devon

More than £700,000 is to be invested by Devon County Council to make the county a more attractive option for social workers.

Devon County Council’s cabinet heard on Wednesday that there was an urgent need to address the shortage of qualified social workers.

It followed Ofsted inspectors concluding earlier this year that children’s social care services in Devon were inadequate having identified ‘serious failures’.

They identified that some children who have suffered chronic neglect and emotional abuse are being left with families for too long.

The pillar in the Devon national park is the third to be found in the UK in recent days.

Charley Adams
BBC News Online

Image source, Cornwall Seal Group Research Trust

The Cornwall Seal Group Research Trust (CSGRT) has received a £75,700 grant from a government fund.

The Trust's project "People Protecting Precious Places" is one of the first environmental projects awarded a grant from the government's £80m Green Recovery Challenge Fund.

It was created to help kick-start nature-based projects while creating and retaining jobs.

CSGRT will use the grant to learn about human interaction with seals by collecting critical research evidence and use stories to motivate people to be "seal friendly" and develop the next generation of marine conservation leaders.

Director of the trust, Sue Sayer said the grant will help "transform people's relationship with seals and help us all to share our seas successfully s marine life can thrive".

"This is our best chance to protect seals by raising awareness about ways to enjoy our coastline and help seals" she added.

Cecilia Seddon, 32, was found dead wrapped in an airbed at a property in Penzance in April 2018.

BBC Spotlight

Eight more hospital patients with coronavirus have died with the virus in the South West.

It brings the total number of Covid-related deaths in the region's hospitals to 610.

The latest deaths include five at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, and one each in Northern Devon, Torbay and Somerset.

Of the region's deaths, 342 have been in Devon and 96 in Cornwall.

BBC Spotlight

The family of a man killed in a road accident say they are "overwhelmed" a petition calling for tougher sentences for hit and run drivers has passed 100,000 signatures.

Ryan Saltern died in a road accident in 2019 in Cornwall.

He was walking home from St Teath Carnival when he was killed.

The driver was given a four month suspended prison sentence after admitting to failing to stop and report an accident.

The family of the 31-year-old man from Truro is part of a campaign calling for sentences to be increased.

The matter will now be discussed in the House of Commons.

Theo had just turned 17 when he became homeless. He turned to the council for help - but was given only a one-man tent.

About 200 people each day are due to get the vaccine at the Royal Cornwall Hospital.

The office costs £80,000 a year, but the council says it is important for trade.

Richard Whitehouse
Local Democracy Reporting Service

Cornwall Council is to keep its office in Brussels open even after the Brexit transition period ends in January, council leader Julian German has said

The council has had the base in Brussels for several years and currently shares the cost with the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership and Combined Universities in Cornwall.

The contract for the office was last tendered in 2019 and was valued at £240,000 for two years.

Mr German said it was "really important that we are continuing to reach out to our friends and partners in Europe".

He said it would allow the county "to have access for our businesses, and that they have that intelligence. and that we can help to make trade and relationships as smooth as possible post Brexit”.

Earlier this year the Conservative group at Cornwall Council called for the office to be scrapped.

Image source, Cornwall Brussels Office

Bosses are "struggling" to keep gyms open as Cornwall Council warns people to "use or lose them".

Pictures captured across Devon and Cornwall show a range of colours in the winter sunrise.

Andrew Segal
BBC South West

Two people who work in a care home have been the first to receive coronavirus vaccinations in Cornwall, the NHS has said.

NHS bosses said health and care partners across the county had been working "around the clock on plans to make the vaccine available to the national priority groups".

It would be offered "widely over the coming weeks and months".

The first vaccines in the county were delivered at 08:00 on Wednesday to Donna MacKinnon, 47, head of care at Roscarrack House Care Home in Falmouth, and her daughter Erin Lilly, 18, who works as a carer in the home.

Ms MacKinnon said she wanted to "do all that I can to protect our residents and their loved ones".

She said: "We have had residents who have become poorly with the virus at our home and we’ve seen first-hand the impact it has had on their lives, those of their families and their friends inside and out of the home.”

Image source, RCHT

• Care home manager: 'It felt like we were losing our own family'
• Covid: Families with negative test can visit care homes in England

Richard Whitehouse
Local Democracy Reporting Service

A new report has revealed the risks that Cornwall faces as a result of Brexit.

The document, written by Cornwall Council leader Julian German, is set to go before the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Leadership Board when it meets on Friday.

With the EU transition period set to end on 31 December, the nine-page report sets out what the impact of changes could be and the risks they pose to Cornwall.

The report states Cornwall’s trade with the EU is higher than the UK average, with 55% of Cornish exports going to the EU and 47% of its imports coming from the EU.

It added Cornwall’s economy was "particularly vulnerable to the impacts of the EU exit due to the average low wage, and importance of the tourism, food, fish and agriculture sectors".

This could be compounded with the impact of Covid-19 which is likely to see a greater contraction than the 2010 financial crash, it said.

With Cornwall having received a large amount of EU funding due to its status as being one of the poorest areas in Europe, there are also concerns about whether that funding will be replaced by the government and how.

The prime minister has promised Cornwall will not miss out, but there have been few details about the replacement funding.

Cornwall Council has submitted a bid to the government for £700m of funding to be provided over the next 10 years to fill the gap left by the loss of EU funding.

BBC Spotlight

The future of some leisure centres in Cornwall is hanging in the balance as thousands of people are choosing to discontinue their memberships.

Greenwich Leisure Centre (GLL), which runs 14 leisure centres on behalf of Cornwall Council, says memberships are about 50% lower than they were in March across the county.

Despite a £6m relief package from the council and 57 job losses, the leisure centres are still hoping enough members will come back in the new year.

James Curry, Cornwall head of service for GLL, said: "Unless customers return to the business we are going to struggle to keep all the centres open and the council will have to make some decisions in conjunction with GLL on the future of their facilities".

BBC Spotlight

The first coronavirus vaccinations at three more of the South West's designated vaccination hubs are being given out.

Those centres are at the Royal Cornwall Hospital, Yeovil District and Dorset County Hospital.

The first batch of vaccines arrived at the Cornish hospital on Saturday and it began its rollout at 08:00 on Wednesday.

Royal Cornwall Hospital Trust chief pharmacist Ian Davidson described it as a "landmark day", with trust chief executive Kate Shields adding the arrival of the vaccine was "a turning point for us all in fighting the pandemic".

The vaccination programme began in Devon on Tuesday at Derriford Hospital in Plymouth.

Kathleen Viney, from Plymouth, was among the first to have the jab.

The 81-year-old said it just took "two seconds" to agree to have the jab when offered.

It was "very silly" not to have the vaccine because it would make "such a difference" to her life, she added.

Dr David Strain, from the University of Exeter Medical School, has urged anyone offered the vaccination in the first round to have it.

BBC Radio Cornwall

The number of cases of Covid-19 in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly has fallen slightly again.

The areas' rate is 24 per 100,000 people, with the England average also slightly down at 124 per 100,000.

In the week to last Friday, there were 135 new cases here - down 31 on the week before.

Kathleen Viney was one of the first to be vaccinated at Derriford Hospital.