Northampton hand leaders Exeter only their second Premiership defeat of the season with a bonus-point victory.

Georgeham Primary School in Devon was given a plastic-free status by environment campaigners.

PC Lucy Clark is not back at her duties while the force carries out an internal probe .

The men were arrested after police found heroin with a street level value of nearly £10,000.

Mitch Pinnock steps off the bench to deliver AFC Wimbledon a priceless victory over fellow strugglers Plymouth.

Iain Lee says the caller who rang his show has been "blown away" by people's "support and love".

Jayden Stockley hits a late winner as Exeter City beat League Two strugglers Yeovil Town.

Library staff give up three hours of their Christmas Day to host people with no other festive plans.

Meet some of the rescue dogs who have spent several Christmases in care after failing to be rehomed.

BBC Radio Devon

Image source, University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust

A garden to help patients with their rehabilitation after being in the intensive care unit at Plymouth's main hospital in Derriford has been opened by the unit's therapy dogs, Harvey, and his younger brother, Hovis.

The garden, which has already been fitted with with plants, fairy lights and a basketball hoop, will act as a sanctuary for staff too, managers said, external.

Image source, University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust

Ed Oldfield
Local Democracy Reporting Service

Image source, Google

People are objecting to a plan for parking meters on a road near one of Devon’s most popular beaches.

At the moment Marine Drive, near Preston Beach at Paignton, has free roadside parking. But people are complaining about a proposal from Torbay Council to put in meters with 24-hour charges.

The popular beach has scores of rented huts in the summer and is used by dog walkers outside a May to September ban of animals on the beach.

Proposed fees range from 60p for 30 minutes to all-day parking costing £10.

Local councillor Chris Lewis has written to the council, asking for the plan to be put on hold, saying it would just result in drivers clogging up nearby residential streets instead.

The council is seeking views on the plan in a consultation period ending on 4 January.

A proposal to increase the number of parking meters in Torbay was included in Mayor Gordon Oliver’s draft budget as a way of raising extra money for the unitary authority.

BBC Radio Devon

For the first time in North Devon, businesses and households will be able to hand in polystyrene to be recycled this Christmas.

The packaging, most often to be found surrounding electrical items and games consoles, would usually go into black wheelie bins. But, thanks to a local waste firm, people can recycle it without charge.

SWM Recycling in Barnstaple is offering to take the polystyrene at its Roundswell depot.

Managing director Martin Mogford said the firm was involved in work to cut transport costs involved with recycling the material...

BBC Radio Devon

If your oven breaks down at Christmas and you still want a traditional turkey dinner, what do you do?

Don't panic, because we asked TV chefs Chris and James Tanner from Plymouth to explain how.

BBC Radio Cornwall

The Royal Cornwall Hospital near Truro is gearing up for its second busiest time of year - over Christmas and the start of winter.

The August bank holiday weekend is usually the only period of the year busier than the time between Christmas and new year.

People are being reminded the emergency department is only for serious and life-threatening injury and illness.

Senior consultant Andy Virr said violence against staff was an ever-present and increasing problem.

Lisa Hay
BBC News Online

Santa's helpers have donated more than 1,000 Christmas presents to charities across Plymouth.

Businesswoman Naomi Leaves used social media to enlist the help of hundreds of people in the city who have spent the last two months collecting donations of food, toiletries and toys.

Organisations including the Salvation Army, Shekinah Mission, Trevi House, the Red Box Project, Plymouth and South Hams Baby Bank, Gables Farm and Plymouth Food Bank are among the recipients of 965 shoebox presents and 47 food hampers.

Image source, Naomi Leaves

"This started five years ago when I saw a collection had started in South Devon and offered to lend a hand because there was nothing like it in Plymouth," said Mrs Leaves.

"We collected 242 boxes in the first year and I never thought it would grow this big."

She said any donations which were not packed up and sent as presents would be sold in aid of the charities. In the last week, she said, £842 had been raised in this way.

Image source, Naomi Leaves

Mrs Leaves plans to take a two-week Christmas holiday with her family: "I am looking forward to having some vegetables on Christmas Day as I've been living off pasties while I've been working on this!"

But she is already planning a fresh appeal for 2019.

Hayley Westcott
BBC News Online

A 71-year-old man has died one week after being seriously injured in a tractor accident, police have said.

Frank Tippett was using the small tractor for maintenance work at Shepherds Waste Range in Zelah where he spent time as a volunteer.

Officers said the vehicle left a track and descended about 8ft (2.4m) down a bank and Mr Tippett, from St Austell, suffered a head injury.

He died in Derriford Hospital in Plymouth on 20 December.

Any witnesses are asked to contact Devon and Cornwall Police via 101 to help with the investigation.

Andrew Segal
BBC South West

A 16,000-tonne Russian cargo ship which ran aground off a beach in Cornwall is to be moved to a more sheltered spot within Falmouth harbour, coastguards say.

The 590ft (180m) Kuzma Minin grounded off Gyllyngvase Beach on 18 December.

The vessel, which had 18 Russian crew members on board but no cargo, was refloated in a "tricky and delicate" operation at high tide.

Police and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) declared a major incident.

An inspection found a breach in one of the fuel tanks, but there was "still no reported pollution", the MCA said.

Later the MCA, three tugs and a port pilot will work with the crew in the move which is a "purely precautionary measure".

Sophie Pierce
BBC Radio Devon

A new community-owned high street bank for the South West could step in where the big four have left, those behind the scheme say.

In Cornwall alone, more than 40 high street bank branches have closed in the county since 2015 - with many towns being left with no bank at all.

Now there are plans for a new mutual, community owned bank which would just serve the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and Somerset.

South Hams and West Devon councils have each given a £50,000 grant to the new enterprise because they said it would help strengthen the local economy.

Tony Greenham is behind the idea and says research shows regional banks help local economies survive financial crises...

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