News in Axminster

The Neighbourhood Plan for for the village of Membury, near Axminster, has reached the final stages of adoption.

The Membury plan is one of two East Devon Neighbourhood Plans to move forward in recent weeks, with a referendum now being scheduled in Otterton next year for residents and businesses to have their say on the future development of the parish.

The bells of St Giles Church in Kilmington will soon be ringing our over the village again.

The bells have been silent for a few months but church officials are hoping they will be rung again to welcome the congregation to the first service since lockdown in Marsch - a Mission Community Evensong on Sunday (September 6).

Small businesses and the tourism sector across Devon, Plymouth, Somerset and Torbay are among those who can benefit from the Growth Support Kickstart Grant Scheme offering grants of up to £3,000.

Application forms for the grant are available on the Growth Support Kickstart Grant website from 12noon today (September 1st).

East Devon District Council is working in partnership with local authorities across the South West in urgently calling on the government to provide funding to safeguard the future of leisure centres.

They are asking ministers to approve a funding submission to help local authorities meet the costs of reopening and operating leisure centres across the country caused by the lockdown and ongoing impact of COVID-19.

Axminster's United Against Racism Group held a clean up event on Saturday, sprucing up some of the more neglected areas of the town.

The group mainly focused on the Belle Vue footpath connecting the town centre with Tesco. These steps are used by many residents and can be dangerous and slippery due to a build up of moss and algae, a lack of adequate lighting in the darker months, overgrown hedges covering hand rails, and rubbish tossed into the gardens.  

Totally Locally Axminster is set to launch a new 'Fiver Fest' initiative in the drive to win support for the town's hard pressed independent traders.

Axminster is one of dozens of towns across the country joining the latest high profile national campaign, which will run from October 10-24.

Crews from Axminster and Chard were called to a domestic property fire in Springmead, Chard, on Thursday night.

Crews were called at 11.27pm and, on arrival, confirmed the kitchen was well alight and got to work extinguishing the fire.

A substantial commercial property in the centre of Axminster has come onto the market after standing unoccupied for some time.

The property straddles Victoria Place and Trinity Square and was formerly occupied by McColl's newsagents.

A spike in coronavirus cases in East Devon, with the number of positive results across Devon more than tripling in recent weeks, is down to returning holidaymakers, according to the county's Director of Public Health.

There have been five cases confirmed by specimen date in East Devon in the past week, four of which were in Seaton.

Tourists coming to Devon and Cornwall are being urged to plan ahead and respect communities across the peninsula as the Bank Holiday weekend gets underway.

Many thousands of visitors, some already in the region, are expected to be residing in the counties over the three-day weekend with congested roads and demand on all emergency services resources expected to be high.