Latest business grant scheme goes live
The latest round of business support scheme funding has now gone live on our website. Funding for the ARG scheme for the third national lockdown can be applied for, from new businesses and those who have applied for previous schemes, using an access code.
Just under 400 access code letters have already been sent to returning applicants allowing them to apply, with the full application form available for new applicants.
Unfortunately because of the surge in demand when the scheme went live last night, applicants could not use the access codes they had been sent to complete their application.
The problems affected Teignbridge, Exeter and East Devon councils but the issues have now been resolved. We apologise for the inconvenience this caused - and busineses can now apply again using their access code.
Further information on access codes, eligibility criteria, or any other element of the scheme can be found on our FAQs.
If you're not sure what grants can support your business, please visit our grant checker, which has been used over 1,000 times since its launch earlier this month.
Vaccination roll out does not mean you can ignore testing
“Testing for coronavirus is still a vital and very real necessity right now, especially if you’re in contact with people through the work you do,” warns Steve Brown, Director of Public Health Devon.
"The rules that we in Devon have done so well to follow since last year, and which have kept our case numbers to one of lowest in the country and have undoubtedly saved lives, are I fear becoming less of a priority in some people’s minds.
“But testing and self-isolating when a person develops symptoms of coronavirus is as important today as it always has been. And it will continue to be so for some time.
“We must not let the vaccine, and the hope it brings, persuade us that these other measures are no longer necessary. They are."
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Want to know more about the covid-19 vaccines?
As increasing numbers of people are vaccinated, Public Health England has published a blog which looks at what we know about the new COVID-19 variants and another which tries to answer the most common questions about the vaccines.
Is our housing strategy up to the mark?
We'd like your views on our new draft housing strategy, which sets out our plans to tackle local housing issues.
We want to make sure that we have the right priorities, given our local influence and resources and to hear your views and ideas to make sure we have considered all of the topics that are important to you.
Our priorities in the strategy are to build affordable homes, improve existing homes, prevent homelessness and address rough sleeping.
The draft strategy also focuses on delivering services, support and advice from the customer’s point of view, and also seeks to tackle climate change through reducing our carbon footprint and promoting energy efficiency.
People completing the survey are asked to identify which of these priorities are the most important to them, and to suggest other areas of work that might be addressed through the strategy.
The survey, which is open now, takes around two minutes to complete, and closes on 24 March.
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Census 2021 is now live
Sunday 21 March is Census Day, but households can complete their questionnaire as soon as they receive their access code.
Census invitation packs containing your household access code for the electronic questionnaire will start arriving from Monday. If you don’t get one in the next couple of weeks, please get in touch with the census contact centre (0800 141 2021). You can also request a paper questionnaire if you’d prefer to complete your census that way.
Local census support centres will offer help for people not confident online, who don’t have a computer or need help completing on paper.
The census is a survey that happens every 10 years and provides a picture of all the people and households in England and Wales and is used to plan future services so it is important that everyone completes it.
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"Wasting Food Feeds Climate Change”.
The UK’s first ever Food Waste Action Week starts on Monday, focusing on how we can stop food going to waste and halt its contribution to climate change.
Each year, UK households throw away 4.5 million tonnes of food that could have been eaten and Food Waste Action Week is challenging everyone to try to reduce the food they waste at home to as close to zero as possible by better storage and portion planning and practical steps such as setting the fridge temperature correctly.
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WRAP says that if food waste was a country, it would be third only to the USA and China in terms of its Green House Gas emissions!
We are proud to be partnering with WRAP, the UK’s leading sustainability charity, as it begins its inaugural Food Waste Action Week and will be sharing activities on social media to help everyone to do their bit to reduce their food waste.
We're asking people to share their best tips for avoiding food waste and will be running a competition with some food waste-saving prizes.
Teignbridge District Council declared a Climate Emergency in 2019 and reducing food waste is a part of this commitment because of the impact food waste has on our carbon footprint.
Cllr Alistair Dewhirst, Executive Member for Recycling, Household Waste & Environmental Health said: “This is a timely reminder of how we can all contribute to reducing the impact of climate change as well as saving money by avoiding waste. I would urge everyone to look afresh at what they can do to avoid waste and to support WRAP’s national initiative locally.”
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Watch out for these scams
An increasing number of scams are targeting people across the country. The Citizens Advice Bureau are warning people to keep an eye out for covid-related scams, such as the ones shown - the first a council tax scam and the second an NHS vaccination scam.
Scams to look out for include:
- advertising face masks or medical equipment at high prices
- emails or texts pretending to be from the government
- emails offering life insurance against coronavirus
- people knocking at your door and asking for money for charity
Scams can be reported through the Action Fraud website.
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Network Rail submit planning application
 Plans to extend an existing rockfall shelter over the railway line between Dawlish and Holcombe north of Parsons Tunnel have been submitted.
The application can be viewed on the planning portal and is a relatively small scale project, likely to be visible from the sea only.
The 209m long extension of the rockfall shelter will help protect trains against falling rocks. Parsons Tunnel was previously extended a hundred years ago and Network Rail proposes to extend that further by providing a rockfall shelter in modern materials, but with open sides rather than the previous brick built enclosed tunnel extension.
If approved, the proposals, which are subject to funding confirmation from government, will see construction starting in August with the work expected to take around a year to complete.
Annual Fairtrade Fortnight underway
Fairtrade Fortnight, which began on Monday and runs until 7 March, has moved online this year with a free ‘Choose the World You Want Festival’ which aims to engage, inform and educate people around the urgent message of Fairtrade and climate change.
 Fairtrade Fortnight highlights how the climate crisis is affecting the future of food and those who produce it. The Festival brings together all those involved and features panel discussions, performances, workshops and collaborations between the Fairtrade Foundation and retailers, chefs and high-profile names in the world of food and sustainability. Programme examples include how to eat ethically in the climate crisis, know how to grow sustainably or the opportunity to take part in a fun quiz.
Fairtrade Fortnight 2021 marks the start of a new climate campaign asking the British public to get behind Fairtrade so that farmers overseas can benefit from fairer prices, fairer trading practices and the resources needed for tackling the climate emergency in low-income countries such as Kenya and Honduras.
Latest government advice
Click on images below for more information.
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