BBC Radio Devon

Devon Air Ambulance has introduced a new helicopter into service, ready to bring emergency medical care to patients across the county.

Flight Operations Director Ian Payne said the new aircraft had a bigger airframe, providing more space onboard, and a larger medical compartment to treat and transport patients.

The new helicopter is based at Exeter Airport, and alongside the existing helicopter stationed near Great Torrington, will be providing up to 19 hours service, seven days a week, bosses said.

BBC Radio Cornwall

University students in the South West have welcomed plans to allow them to return home to be with their families for Christmas once the current England-wide lockdown ends on 2 December.

The students will be expected to travel in allocated travel time slots from 3 to 9 December, and as many as possible will be offered Covid tests, with rapid results, to ensure they're safe to travel, the government said.

The evacuation-style operation will see institutions working with local public health bodies.

Universities have also been told to move all teaching online from 9 December.

However, any student who tests positive for Covid will be required to self-isolate for 10 days under the current guidelines. But the timing means they would still be able to get back for the Christmas holidays.

They are also being strongly advised to travel during the "travel window".

Star McFarlane, a student in Falmouth, told the BBC the news was a great relief.

Andrew Segal
BBC South West

Image source, Jill Burley

People and organisations across Cornwall and Devon have marked Armistice Day during a two-minute silence, remembering all those who have given their lives in war in the cause of peace and freedom.

Events are being held at local military bases.

A special service has been held at Westminster Abbey in London to mark the centenary of the burial of the Unknown Warrior.

At Paddington Station, scores of wreaths have been delivered by nine special GWR trains - one of them from Penzance which set off at 05:00.

And a poppy mosaic comprising hundreds of thank you notes to military heroes has been created to mark Remembrance Day 2020.

The artwork was commissioned by the BBC's network of local radio stations after coronavirus restrictions led to the cancellation of parades and remembrance services.

The mosaic, to go on show at the REME Museum at MOD Lyneham in Wiltshire, features photographs of people holding up their notes.

Other artistic remembrance tributes this year have included the poppy sculpture pictured above, created by Jill Burley on Combesgate Beach, Woolacombe, in Devon.

The Gloucestershire mother of a a RAF policewoman has used her paintings to honour the forces.

Lake District-based couple had to move apart after the company they worked for went bust.

The Wavewalker will allow workers to operate day and night, engineers say.

Five more deaths of hospital patients with coronavirus have been announced in Devon.

Officials said four of them were at Torbay Hospital and one was at Plymouth's Derriford Hospital.

The latest figures mean the South West has recorded 451 deaths of patients who tested positive for the virus, with 234 of those in Devon and 94 in Cornwall.

Gordon Sparks
Presenter, BBC Radio Devon

Work has begun on the next stage of the scheme to protect the main rail line through Devon and Cornwall.

Project bosses said it was hoped phase two of the sea wall strengthening at Dawlish would protect the line from storms.

Network Rail said it was using an innovative piece of equipment - a huge eight-legged barge called the Wavewalker.

The platform, the only one in the UK, would enable engineers to put in concrete piles as part of the work in any weather conditions, staff said.

However, it may take a while for all the piles to go in - it has a top walking speed of 20 metres-per-hour.

Shirley Grenfell's "tragic inattention" allowed Chanelle Grenfell to drown in a bath, a judge says.

Andrew Segal
BBC South West

Spitting attacks on police are "absolutely disgusting" and "totally unacceptable", a senior officer has said.

Ch Supt Daniel Evans - commander of the north, east and west Devon area of the force - tweeted that he had written to three officers who suffered such attacks over the weekend, and that it "makes my blood boil reading the reports of assaults on our staff".

His comments were supported by the head of the Devon and Cornwall Police Federation, which represents officers up the rank of chief inspector.

Andy Berry said that spitting seemed "to have been weaponised by Covid" and that there had been a 62% increase in such incidents on the six months since lockdown, which was "unacceptable".

Ch Supt Evans said one offender was given a 56-week sentence for such an assault, "which is a good result and fully deserved".

BBC Radio Cornwall

Cornwall's business leaders have expressed their concern at the temporary closure of Cornwall Airport Newquay.

It announced on Monday all passenger flights would be suspended, with airport managers blaming the huge drop in demand since the second England Covid lockdown started.

The chief executive of the Cornwall Chamber of Commerce, Kim Conchie, said he was "absolutely devastated" and the airport was crucial to a successful future for the county.

Andrew Segal
BBC South West

Exeter Airport has called for immediate additional economic support for the aviation industry as winter approaches, amid a ban on international travel during the current lockdown in England which has left the industry "on a knife-edge".

A spokesman for the airport said aviation had been "devastated" by the Covid-19 pandemic and it was having to deal with all but essential air travel prohibited and blanket quarantine rules.

The airport said a "likely risk" of permanent closure of regional airports in the immediate future would "become reality if a comprehensive support package is not forthcoming".

It called for business rates relief for airports and an emergency waiver of Air Passenger Duty.

The airport's plea comes after Newquay's airport in neighbouring Cornwall confirmed it was closing until at least mid-December because of the current Covid travel restrictions.

The government said it had launched its Global Travel Taskforce to find solutions to problems caused by the pandemic.

Patrick is getting used to everyday situations so he can become a therapy pony.

Cornwall Airport Newquay closes temporarily due to a lack of lockdown demand to "make it viable".

A fashion brand founder may have to remove a tennis court and garage, following a council decision.

A further death of a hospital patient with Covid-19 in Devon has been reported.

The latest death was at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, officials said.

Across the South West, the total of such deaths is 446, with 229 in Devon and 94 in Cornwall.

Meanwhile, managers at Torbay Hospital said they were reassuring patients it was safe to visit following a relatively high number of deaths of patients with Covid-19 in the second wave of the pandemic.

Figures from the Local Democracy Reporting Service showed Torbay has the highest infection rate for the virus in Devon.

The latest data show 16 deaths with Covid-19 at the hospital in Torquay since the start of October.

In the same period between 1 October and 7 November, there were 12 deaths with Covid-19 in Plymouth, four in Exeter and two in North Devon.

The Torquay hospital said most of its patients with Covid-19 recovered well, but the area had a higher proportion of frail and elderly people, many with pre-existing conditions, who are more at risk of serious complications from the illness.

It said in a statement there had been a “steady but significant increase” in the number of in-patients testing positive for the virus, and the hospital was following its plans to continue to provide “safe and high quality care”.

BBC Radio Cornwall

Cornwall Airport Newquay has been closed until at least mid-December, when it's hoped some current Covid travel restrictions could be lifted, bosses have said.

Cornwall's airport confirmed on Monday morning it had "temporarily closed" its terminal and suspended all scheduled flights "due to the impact" of current government Covid guidelines on demand.

Its last flight was on Sunday.

The airport added its aerodrome was open to support "vital services such as Cornwall Air Ambulance, HM Coastguard Search and Rescue, business and military operations".

The airport's management said a lack of bookings since the second England lockdown, which began last week, meant it had no option.

Managing Director Pete Downes said staff would "keep the airfield open for critical life-saving flight activity, just as we did in the first lockdown.

He added they would then work "as best we can with our teams to support them while they are on furlough ... and look towards mid-December in the hope that there will be some sort of rally of demand for the Christmas period".

Malcolm Ginsberg, editor-in-chief at Business Travel News, said the airport "has to exist" or it would be bad news for the county.

He said: "You saw what happened with Plymouth - as soon as the airport closed, the city went through a very bad patch".

He added that a change in airline for the main London route, currently provided by British Airways, could also benefit it.

He said: "What it needs is not British Airways. It needs a much smaller carrier that will care for the route."

Rebecca Thorn
BBC News

Support for extremely vulnerable people is being made available by some Devon councils during the second lockdown.

South Hams and West Devon councils said priority delivery slots from supermarkets would be offered to those who had been told to shield by the government.

Some 7,000 food parcels offered to the vulnerable in the first lockdown "do not feature in the national support package this time", the local authorities said.

People who do not have family to support them are encouraged to contact NHS Volunteer Responders for help.

Dr Virginian Pearson, director of Public Health in Devon, said: "I know that this pandemic has been a very worrying time for everyone, and that many who were clinically extremely vulnerable last time and asked to ‘shield’, found lockdown to be a very difficult time.

"Therefore, please contact others for help if you need it, and stay in touch with family and friends during this time – but do this digitally as much as possible, to keep that important social distance."

At this time of year, Brian and Margaret Eyers sift through their crocus flowers for the saffron harvest. Anna Jones visits them to hear how they started the Cornish Saffron Company and how the most expensive spice in the world is woven into Cornish history.

Produced in Bristol by Caitlin Hobbs for BBC Audio.

BBC Radio Cornwall

A new fleet of road sweepers, rubbish and recycling lorries is taking to the roads after Cornwall Council agreed a new eight-year contract with Biffa.

The council said, external the new vehicles, with some arriving in October and already in operation, were more environmentally friendly and included the latest technology.

The new contract officially begins on 1 February and covers refuse and recycling collections, along with street, beach and public open space cleaning; as well as collections for bulky, clinical and garden, council office and commercial waste.

The council said the changes would eventually see the introduction of a weekly food waste collection and fortnightly rubbish and recycling collections, with them phased in during 2022.