Friday 27 June 2025
⚠️ An Amber Heat-Health Alert is currently in place for the South West.
Read our special edition newsletter for advice about saying safe in hot weather, especially for those in our communities who may struggle to keep themselves cool and hydrated.
We have ended the 2024/25 financial year without going over our £637.5 million budget, but only by relying on temporary savings and one-off government funding. We must now plan ahead carefully and work closely with partners to find better, more sustainable ways to support Devon’s communities.
Our highways teams will carry out a repair blitz on potholes, where all potholes would be filled, rather than just dealing with safety defects, in a few trial areas of the county. Although the exact details are still to be agreed, this pilot would be used to establish the budget implications of changing maintenance procedures.
A new long-term plan to improve the outcomes of Devon’s most vulnerable young people by overhauling how they are supported and cared for has been approved by our cabinet. Councillors have agreed to an ambitious multi-million investment programme to establish 12 new children’s homes; 20 specialist foster places; and up to four new therapeutic schools, over the next 10 years.
Our cabinet has agreed how it will allocate a smaller pot of national funding to help families struggling with high costs of food, energy, and other essential household items. The funding has fallen for the first time, to £8.9 million – a decrease of 11.87 per cent.
 Do you struggle to charge your electric vehicle without a driveway?
If you live in Devon or Torbay and charge your Electric Vehicle (EV) at home but don’t have a driveway you can apply to have a cross-pavement cable channel installed for free as part of a pioneering new trial.
 Minister sees innovation being used to drive improvement on Devon’s roads
The Minister for the Future of Roads, Lilian Greenwood MP, has been in Devon to see the innovations we’re using to repair our roads. She said our ‘Dragon Patchers’ are one of the many great examples of using new technology to repair roads faster.
More adult learners will have the opportunity to access education and skills training in the upcoming academic year following an extra £1.4 million investment from the Department for Education (DfE). Our cabinet has agreed to commission additional delivery of adult learning from external providers.
Skilled technicians at a new workshop in North Devon thoroughly clean and refurbish a wide range of large domestic appliances such as refrigerators, freezers and washing machines which will then be distributed to reuse shops in our Household Waste Recycling Centres across the county for resale.
 We've taken full ownership of Skypark Development Partnership LLP
It follows the decision by developer Brighton STM to leave the Joint Venture, with Devon purchasing its 50 per cent share in order to continue development of the site, supporting growth and creating jobs.
From July, new cameras will come online from to monitor and enforce the use of the bus gate on Wonford Road in Exeter. It’s the first of eight sites across Devon which, over the coming months, will have new cameras put into place.
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