Local News from Thursday, July 16th, 2026

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has rated Devon County Council as requires improvement, in how well they are meeting their responsibilities to ensure people have access to adult social care and support under the Care Act (2014).

South Western Railway (SWR) has been awarded the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS) Gold Award, the Ministry of Defence’s highest accolade for organisations that provide exceptional support to the Armed Forces community.

A year after Devon & Cornwall Police was taken out of special measures a new inspection rating system puts the force two categories away from that rating.

Police are appealing for witnesses and information following a two-vehicle collision on Honiton Road, Exeter.

Devon’s residents have been “betrayed” in a fundamental overhaul of how Devon’s councils will be reorganised and which services they will be responsible for, it has been claimed.

Councillors who voted to let cars back into a cycles-only street in Exeter have been accused of ‘kicking the can down Dryden Road’.

Massive changes to local councils across Devon will simplify services for local people, according to the leader of one of the councils that will be expanded as part of the set up.

Devon County Council has unveiled its plans for the year ahead as it prepares for one of the biggest changes to local government in the county's history.