GWR advice to passengers on next week’s strike action

GWR is warning that on next week’s rail strike days - Tuesday 21 June, Thursday 23 June and Saturday 25 June - there will be no rail services at all on some of its routes and where trains do run, they will be extremely limited with much later start and earlier finish times.  

On Wednesday 22 June, Friday 24 June and Sunday 26 June, there will also be a restricted service with services starting late and finishing very early. 

Where services are running, GWR is advising that rail travel should only be considered if absolutely necessary. There will be no alternative road replacement available and there is still the potential for further changes even on the day.  

GWR expect timetables for the days when services will be affected to be part of online planners from tomorrow.

As well as checking timetables, travellers are encouraged to view maps showing which routes are open .

Have you given your views on Queen Street?

There is just over a week left for you to comment on proposals to make Queen Street in Newton Abbot a more attractive, safe and healthy place for people to visit.

The eight-week consultation being run by Devon County Council, in partnership with Teignbridge, ends on 24 June and separate dedicated questionnaires are available to residents and businesses for them to provide feedback on the consultation proposals.

Currently, the pavements in Queen Street are too narrow in places for large numbers of pedestrians, and side roads can be difficult to cross.  The proposals include giving shoppers more space to move around, improved crossings as well as public seating and planting to make Queen Street a more appealing shopping destination. Under the proposals, the number of parking spaces will be reduced to enable wider pavements and to enable greening in certain locations, and a 20mph speed limit introduced between The Avenue and Courtenay Street. 

The consultation pages on Devon’s website provide more details of the proposals and links to the feedback questionnaires.

Please take part and encourage your friends to do so as well!

Lido staff needed for the summer

Know anyone who might fancy a job at the environmentally friendly Teignmouth Lido over the summer months?  Do you have a teenager home from college / uni?

Despite the decarbonisation investment in the Lido over recent months and the incentive of pool lifeguard qualification training packages, like many other pools and leisure centres we are currently struggling to attract the key staff needed to open it this summer.

Working at the Lido in past summers has been an attractive short-term job for many recruits who want to work in the open air and enjoy fulfilling an important role in helping people enjoy their summer holidays safely.

But with many businesses reporting vacancies, attracting candidates is challenging.  Tuesday is the closing date for applicants in the third round of recruitment the leisure team has undertaken to attract the staff it needs to run the Lido.  So far, we have been unable to attract sufficient candidates to enable us to open the Lido when the decarbonisation work is completed in the coming weeks.

So if you know anyone who might be interested please direct them to the Teignbridge Leisure website for more information  and encourage them to apply via our jobs portal

Making A Child Friendly Devon

The new Strategic Plan vision for a Child Friendly Devon makes it clear that the county council is ambitious for Devon to be the best place to grow up for all children and that achieving that goal should be a priority for all councils and other organisations in Devon.

We want to create an environment where every child has high aspirations and can meet their potential, where there are more opportunities to succeed, and where our young people can afford to live here and want to stay.

As part of that ambition, a new visual identity for Child Friendly Devon is being created and the council is engaging with a range of people, including children and young people, to help shape the identity.

You can get involved by completing a short survey and sharing it with as many contacts as possible. To share your thoughts before Friday 24 June, visit Wish for Devon.

Make a difference by reducing single plastic use

Yesterday’s World Refill Day was a timely reminder that we can all play a part in helping to reduce plastic pollution, especially by cutting back on single use plastics.

Globally we produce over 300 million tonnes of plastic every year, up to half of which is single use meaning it is used once and then thrown away.  Campaigners tell us plastic is not only polluting our planet and contributing to the climate crisis, but it’s also making its way into our bodies through the air we breathe and the food we eat.

Single use plastic can take years to degrade so we need to reuse and refill whenever we can.

You can play your part by downloading the Refill App to find out where you can reuse or refill plastic containers locally. The Refill app links you to to a network of Refill and Zero Waste Stores giving you the option of reusing and refilling containers. There are nearly 1,000 retailers in Devon listed on the app, many based in Teignbridge.

Find out more on the World Refill website about how you can help reduce the use of single waste plastic

Looking for something to do in Teignmouth?

There's plenty of things to do on Teignmouth sea front and in the Den area whilst the play park refurbishment work continues.

Why not try the adventure golf or tennis, table tennis or mini quads.?  The Activity trail takes you from the Lighthouse along the sea front and sea wall to Sprey Point or vice versa.

If you would like a leaflet to follow as you do the trail they are available from Teign Heritage Centre.

Step free access to Dawlish beach and promenade open this weekend

 The underpass at Colonnade giving access to King’s Walk promenade and beach is due to reopen at 7pm tonight (17 June) until further notice as Network Rail continues its work on the new sea wall at Dawlish.

While working this week, the team on site discovered an uncharted, capped gas main. This means that piling to install foundations cannot currently take place in this location; so a pathway will be kept open to safely let the public through.

In the meantime, Network Rail is working with the utility company to find a solution and is continuing to work elsewhere on site.

Updates will be posted on local signs and on the South West Rail Resilience Programme’s Facebook and Twitter pages.