Bringing you the news, sport, travel and weather for Devon and Cornwall

Cornish Pirates boss Gavin Cattle says his side gave Yorkshire Carnegie too many chances after their defeat at Headlingley.

Local Democracy Reporting Service

Image source, Coleridge Memorial Trust

A life-size statue of Ottery St Mary's most famous son - Samuel Taylor Coleridge - will be built in the town.

The Coleridge Memorial Trust has been granted permission by East Devon District Council planners to build a £100,000 bronze statue in honour of the poet.

The statue of the Kubla Khan poet will be built in the grounds of St Mary's Church.

Documents with the application submitted by the trust's Chris Wakefield read: "There has long been a wish in Ottery St Mary that the poet should be appropriately memorialised in sculptural form close to his birthplace, and the churchyard has been favoured as a preferred location.

"The reasons for focusing on St Mary's are many - but chief among them has to be the role of Coleridge's father as the incumbent, and he spent much of his frequently lonely childhood in the churchyard."

It is hoped the statue will be installed in advance of the 250th anniversary of his birth in 2022.

Dolores Woolcock was found next to her car amid "ghastly" weather in her nightclothes and slippers.

Rob Byrne
BBC News Online

Image source, Plymouth City Council

It is hoped Sutton Harbour footbridge will be back in action in time for Easter, the bodies responsible for its repair have said.

Plymouth City Council, the Environment Agency and Sutton Harbour Company are investing £250,000 in the work.

The footbridge, which crosses Sutton Lock, was closed to pedestrians after a failure of the bearing meant the turntable could not operate.

Plymouth Council leader Tudor Evans said: "This is a complex engineering project and our engineers have been working hard behind the scenes to get this work done as fast as we can."

BBC Business News

Seven branches of Santander in Devon are closing, it has been announced.

The closures will take place in:

• Bideford on 25 April 2019
• Axminster on 2 May 2019
• Tavistock on 23 May 2019
• Brixham on 30 May 2019
• Sidmouth on 20 June 2019
• Totnes on 27 June 2019
• Plymouth New George Street on 5 December 2019

All of the branches closing around the country are listed here.

Kensey Foods, which operates from a site in Cornwall, says it has been "loss making" for six years.

BBC Radio Cornwall

The unenviable table of the worst places for dog fouling in Cornwall has been published.

Cornwall Council says Penzance is top of the list, with Saltash and Tywardreath and Par not far behind.

Beach cleaner Emily Stevenson found 200 discarded dog waste bags on a recent walk at Porthcothan.

Neil Gallacher, Business & Industry Correspondent
BBC Spotlight

Image source, Google

About 650 jobs are to be lost after a premium quality desserts company announced plans to close.

The management at Kensey Foods in Launceston has confirmed it is in talks with staff.

The stresses have been apparent for some years at Kensey Foods.

The most obvious sign has been cuts to the terms and conditions of the workforce.

A bakers' union spokesman described the closure plans as terrible. The bakery owners Samworth Brothers say this plant has been loss making for six years.

Trading conditions in the desserts sector generally are extremely tough.

Closure is proposed by the end of July but Samworth Brothers expect to be able to redeploy what they call a good number of people to their sister plant, The Cornwall Bakery in Callington.

Devon Live

Police are investigating reports that a venomous rattlesnake has escaped captivity in Totnes., external

Alex Osborne
BBC Weather

Another chilly day with sunny periods and patchy cloud. A slight risk of a passing shower. More cloud possible towards evening. Maximum temperature: 4 to 7°C (39 to 45°F).

Tonight, cloud will thicken from the west bringing a little patchy rain. The rain may become more persistent through the early hours. Minimum temperature: -1 to 2°C (30 to 36°F).

BBC Spotlight

A special service is being held to mark the 80th anniversary of the "forgotten lifeboat disaster".

Seven lifeboatmen from St Ives, Cornwall, drowned when they lost their boat in a fierce storm on 23 January 1939.

Flags in the town will be lowered to half-mast and a memorial service will honour the bravery of those who died.

Image source, British Pathe

Rob Cocking pays tribute to seven men killed in the St Ives lifeboat disaster on 23 January 1939.

Chris Quevatre
BBC News Online

Cornwall Council has declared a "climate emergency".

The authority called on Parliament to provide "the power and resources" for Cornwall to become carbon neutral by 2030.

Councillor Dominic Fairman, who brought the motion, said: “After a very lively debate a cross-party amendment was accepted which went even further than the original motion. If we are to avoid the worst-case scenarios [to the planet], then the social change required will be deep."

Image source, Transition Cornwall

Campaign group Transition Cornwall said it "looks forward to seeing the implementation of this declaration through the council over the next few months".

• Bristol's 2030 carbon-neutral plan 'ambitious'
• 'Nature-based' greenhouse gas removal to limit UK climate change

BBC Spotlight

Salt marshes could soon be restored in north Devon following a new study looking at their economic and environmental value.

The habitat is said to be in decline due to rising sea levels, changes to water nutrient levels and land development.

Scientists and economists from the South West Partnership for Environmental and Economic Prosperity (SWEEP) have developed a tool to help land managers assess the costs and benefits of re-introducing the habitat.

Researcher Katrina Davis, from the University of Exeter, explained the benefits...