Falmouth is looking decidedly more spring like after a group of primary pupils and university students helped distribute 8,000 daffodils to mark the start of the Falmouth Spring Festival.

A total of 70 youngsters and 20 students spent the morning delivering the flowers to businesses, visitors and residents and helping to dress the windows of around 30 shops.

Paint the Town Yellow has established itself as the first event in the festival which runs until Sunday.

Children from various primary schools worked alongside art and design students and with businesses who had signed up to have their shop windows turned yellow.

Prior to the event the students led workshops to help the children create spring-themed creations and that art work was installed in the windows.

"This is a really exciting project for us," said Sam Hudspith, Falmouth University's UK recruitment and outreach coordinator.

"It provided a great opportunity for out students to gain valuable experience and its a fun and creative way for the schools to interact with the university."

The advent of spring was welcomed at Trebah Gardens at Mawnan Smith at the weekend at the annual Daffy Down Dilly Day.

The attraction hosted the annual event, with hundreds of visitors enjoying the daffodils, magnolias, camellias and rhododendrons.

Children from Mawnan School, led by head teacher Randall Brook, performed country dancing on the lawn.

This was followed by art and craft workshops, children's entertainment and music.

Those living in Mawnan parish got a chance to enjoy the day for free.

The name Daffy Down Dilly comes from a 16th-century poem by Edmund Spenser.

Director Nigel Burnett said, "The Garden is bursting with spring colour, our Champion Magnolia is in full bloom as are many of the camellias and rhododendrons.

"This day is about inviting our neighbours into the garden before the main season and whilst the garden is in its full spring glory."

LEADING South West chefs launched the region's most prestigious dining publication, the Trencherman's Guide, at Fifteen Cornwall today.

The guide showcases 122 of the very best of the region's restaurants and restaurants with rooms.

Now in its 21st year, the annual Trencherman's Guide is the Holy Grail for the region's foodie residents and visitors alike, guiding them to a unique variety of dining experiences, according to Michael Caines MBE.

He said: "While the region continues to lead the UK in high-quality, authentic cooking, using locally prepared and seasonal ingredients, it's not all about fine dining of the white linen and crystal variety. In the guide you'll also discover excellent food, served with style, everywhere from chic beachside restaurants to moorland dining pubs."

Guests attending the launch at Fifteen Cornwall were treated to a five-course lunch, crafted by Andy Appleton of Fifteen Cornwall, Chris Eden of Driftwood Hotel (Portscatho), John Howe, of Lumiere (Cheltenham), James and Chris Tanner of Tanners Restaurant & Barbican Kitchen (Plymouth) and Daniel Moon of Stone Easton Park (near Bath, Somerset).

This year the publishers have also integrated dining vouchers into this year's guide, enabling diners to save money while still enjoying the culinary creations of the region's finest chefs.

Shotguns are among a haul of items stolen from Duchy College in Stoke Climsland in the early hours of Friday morning.
In total six guns were taken from from a secure gun cabinet at the specialist agricultural college, near Callington.
Police say the cabinet was removed from the wall and carried to a location around 200m away from the scene. The cabinet door was then forced open and the shotguns were removed.
During the burglary several desktop computers and laptops were also stolen – all of which are security marked.
Police are appealing for witnesses or anyone with information about the burglary to come forward.
A police spokesman said: "Naturally we are concerned that shotguns have been stolen and there are now six unauthorised weapons in the hands of criminals. We have begun a full investigation and we are keen to locate these stolen items as quickly as possible."
"I would urge anyone who is approached with any similar items for sale, where the origin of the items cannot be clearly demonstrated, to contact us straightaway."
If anyone has information in connection with this incident call 101 and quote reference BN/13/166. Alternatively call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.

Cornish All Blacks forward Ben Hilton will again captain Cornwall  in this season's County Championship campaign.

His appointment was announced at a squad training session at Truro College on Monday evening as Cornwall continued their preparations for their annual assault on the Twickenham final.

Hilton led Cornwall last season, when they just missed out on a place in the final, and he said the squad was determined to go on better this season.

He said: "I feel very proud to have been given the opportunity for the second consecutive year, especially amongst such quality of players and a number of existing leaders within the team.

"This will certainly help our cause on the road this season. The whole squad really want to reward the loyal Cornish rugby supporters. Let's give them something to celebrate."

Cornwall face a very tough pool, with away trips to  Gloucestershire (May 4) and Kent  (May 11), followed by their only home match against holders Hertfordshire at Camborne on May 18.

Another session is  planned next month before Cornwall take on Devon in the Tamar Cup in a warm-up for the Championship programme.

Liberal Democrat MP for North Devon, dismisses claims that his party's days are numbered

The outcome of the Eastleigh by-election should have shown commentators and political opponents alike that the Liberal Democrats are not going to roll over and cave in. Rumours of our political death have been greatly exaggerated; dances on our graves premature.

At the last election we polled almost 24% of the national vote and secured 57 seats. But in 1997 we secured only 16% of the vote yet still won 46 seats. Though I accept that we are likely to get a smaller share of the national vote in 2015 than we did in 2010, it simply does not follow that we will lose seats correspondingly.

Eastleigh showed that where we have a good record of delivering for local people, we are resilient enough to hold seats. And there is no reason why we cannot repeat that in our other strongholds up and down the country. If some of our popular vote does peel off it will probably go – for the main part – to Labour. But most of this vote will be in seats where we are neither the incumbents nor strong challengers; essentially in the Tory-Labour marginals.

So the brighter Tories are waking up to the reality that any shift in the popular vote from the Lib Dems towards Labour will in fact do the Tories more harm than it will do the Lib Dems, and there might be some sense in behaving in a more collegial way towards us. The more stupid ones, by contrast, persist in seeing us as the problem rather than – for now – their salvation.

We have not lost our identity in the coalition. Labour hacks will of course try to portray us as crypto-Tories, but no sensible person really believes that. People can see that our priorities and those of our Tory colleagues are different – nowhere more so than on welfare and taxation.

But the coalition was established on the key foundation of trying to tackle the enormous deficit we inherited from Labour – bigger as a proportion of national income than those in Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece or Spain. This has involved having to introduce some perfectly ghastly measures, none more painful than the student fees issue.

But for all the hyperbole about the savagery of cuts, at the end of the entire austerity era the size of "the State" will only be back to where it was ten years ago, when Tony Blair was proclaiming an economic miracle and a permanent end to "boom and bust". Nor will deficit reduction have gone any further than Labour promised at the last election – without the faintest idea how it was going to achieve it or what pain would be entailed.

There are two years left of this Parliament. The coalition was a five-year deal. We have made our bed and we will lie in it. We will see the commitment through to the end. Talk of disengagement strategies – stomping out of the coalition six months from the end on some artificial pretext or other – is childish absurdity. The public is not going to press the reset button and forget the previous four years.

We will stand or fall on what we have been able to achieve. We will point to our great success in delivering our centrepiece policy from 2010 of raising the tax threshold to £10,000 and taking millions of low earners out of income tax. We will point to record raises in pensions. We will point to Pupil Premium school funding for children from disadvantaged backgrounds (imperfect though it is). We will point to the renaissance of the Post Office network and many other specifically Lib Dem achievements.

And we will invite people to imagine what life would have been like without us there as a civilising influence. David Cameron's Daily Mail headline: "We would have ruled as real Tories, if it weren't for the Lib Dems," will appear on our leaflets up and down the land.

In the meantime there is important work to be done: protecting the most vulnerable from the pain of austerity, securing fairer funding for rural areas, continuing progress towards a low-carbon economy, pushing investment in housing and infrastructure.

But we will emerge the other side, bloodied perhaps but unbowed, a permanent part of the British political landscape. Whether as an antidote to Labour's economic incompetence, or to the Tories' social unfairness, the Lib Dems will remain the grit in the oyster – and a force for good through-out the land.

Torbay's reputation as a UK tourist destination is going from strength to strength – we recently came in the top five UK holiday destinations for the quality of our hotel services. The industry is worth over £450 million to the local economy. Across Devon, tourism is worth £2.3 billion a year.

Yet today less of the money generated by visitors to Torbay stays in the local economy, as national chains and brands have replaced family-owned small businesses. So whilst it is good to see the English Riviera excelling nationally in tourism, and recognising that the industry will always be an important part of the local employment market, we must not lose sight of the need to diversify our economy towards higher-value, sustainable employment and local enterprises that spend their profits in the area.

We believe there is an opportunity to get the kind of EU investment in Devon that until now has been the reserve of our friends over the Tamar. In previous years Devon has had to share EU regional development and social funding with the rest of the South West, which has often watered down the value of the spending. What is needed in Torbay is not necessarily the same as that which is needed in Tavistock or Torrington.

Devon's economy is below the EU average – as it happens it is at about the same level as our Portuguese holiday destination rivals, the Algarve. But the county's challenges are different to those in other parts of the Westcountry. Indeed the Torbay area is a good 40% below the EU average, which is lower than the former mining areas of the Welsh valleys. Torbay's development is also lower than the average across Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, a sub-region which has over the last 14 years benefited from £1 billion in extra subsidies from Brussels and Whitehall.

Devon's diversity makes the task even more complex. Although leisure and tourism are still the cornerstone of the county's economy, distribution, manufacturing, fisheries, food production and agriculture all play their part.

This is what led us to have a number of meetings with key players in Brussels last week to make the case for Devon and Torbay. We met Janusz Lewandowski, the European Commissioner responsible for the budget, as well as Ivailo Kalfin, the MEP leading negotiations in the European Parliament. We also met senior officials in the EU's fisheries and regional funds departments, with a view to creating a pot of money specially dedicated to areas like Torbay.

The key question for local businesses and communities will be whether they will ever actually get to see any of the cash – will the money go to where it is actually needed or just to the people who shout the loudest? We believe the facts speak for themselves. Torbay's needs are great.

The Torbay Development Agency and other partners have done great work in increasing the Bay's attractiveness as a place for businesses to locate. And Torbay has benefited greatly from the current spending round. Millions of pounds worth of funding via the European regional development fund has been used to regenerate Brixham harbour and the waterfront in Torquay.

Indeed around the bay a host of small, world-class hi-tech firms have grown up, many out of the ashes of Nortel Networks which shed more than 5,000 skilled jobs in 2001, demonstrating the area is more than cream teas and coach parties, important though they continue to be.

But if we really targeted the spending we could deliver so much more. We could build appropriately sized business units, train our youth in the necessary skills and re-train those who have been made redundant to give them a fresh start in the job market. EU funds can also be used to provide small loans to micro businesses to give them that little bit of help they need to get started.

The work has to start now. With investment from EU schemes and the coalition Government's Regional Growth Fund, Devon can emerge from the economic downturn with renewed vigour and confidence. With construction of the £110 million Kingskerswell bypass well under way, we are also beginning to see the infrastructure investment the far South West needs so badly – although we are nowhere near where we need to be on railway investment.

Our Local Economic Partnership (LEP) is working on a strategy for where this funding could be delivered. We encourage all businesses and voluntary organisations, whether big or small, to work with the LEP to make sure this county gets as much as possible out of the money.

Energy Secretary Ed Davey gave the go-ahead yesterday for the first of a planned new generation of nuclear power plants in the UK.

Mr Davey told MPs that he was granting planning consent for French energy giant EDF to construct a new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point C, in Somerset.

The news is a boost to the nuclear industry following a series of setbacks in plans to construct a new fleet of reactors in the UK, which ministers say are needed to cut carbon and keep the lights on.

Mr Davey told the Commons that affordable new nuclear would play a "crucial role" in ensuring secure, diverse supplies of energy in the UK and decarbonising the electricity sector and the economy.

The plant's two nuclear reactors would be capable of producing 7% of the UK's electricity, enough to power five million homes, EDF has said.

It is thought the costs of the new power station would run to around £14 billion.

A final investment decision by EDF to go ahead with construction still depends on the deal being negotiated with the Government on the "strike" price paid for electricity generated by the plant.

Under electricity market reforms, low-carbon power such as nuclear reactors and offshore wind farms will have long-term contracts with a guaranteed price for their electricity, to give investors certainty to invest in projects with high capital costs.

The decision to grant a development consent order is in addition to a separate process of health and safety assessment, with permits awarded by the Office for Nuclear Regulation and the Environment Agency.

Mr Davey said EDF had now secured the majority of consents it needed to build and operate the plant.

Gary Smith, national officer of the GMB union, described yesterday's planning consent as a "welcome and necessary step forward".

Somerset County Council welcomed the decision, which it said would see £100 million a year going into the regional economy at the peak of the eight-year construction project.

David Hall, Somerset County Council's deputy leader, said: "The Hinkley Point C project will unlock tremendous opportunities for Somerset, including thousands of new jobs, supply chain investment and a large number of apprenticeships for our young people."

Nuclear power currently provides around one fifth of the UK's electricity.

Heavy rain looks set to end an unsettled week of weather and follows days of icy temperatures.

Two days of persistent rain have been forecast for Thursday and Friday in Devon and Cornwall with spells of heavy rain across the wider Westcountry.

More than an inch of rain (30mm) is expected across many parts of the region, equal to one third of the average monthly rainfall for March.

The heaviest rain is set to fall over the moors and hills, with up to 2 inches (50mm) predicted on Dartmoor and Exmoor.

The Exeter-based Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning advising people to "be aware" of heavy rainfall.

Met Office spokesman Helen Chivers said: "Miserable weather is on the way unfortunately.

"Today there will be a mixture of sunshine and showers in Devon and Cornwall, with the possibility of heavy thundery and possibility hail showers.

"The heavy rain will come into parts of Cornwall and South Devon on Thursday morning, setting the tone for the next couple of days."

Some improvement is expected later on Friday, but there is still the likelihood of localised heavy showers.

Ms Chivers added: "With the ground already saturated, there is a risk of flooding in some parts."

The Met Office warning runs from 12pm on Thursday until 5pm on Friday.

Matt Dobson, a forecaster for MeteoGroup, the weather division of the Press Association, said the conditions continue a cold month across the UK which has brought an unwelcome delay to springtime.

Mr Dobson said that the continued cold weather is uncommon for March.

He said: "Whether you think that spring officially starts on March 1 or March 21, this is certainly unusually cold for this time of year.

"It's very cold for mid-March when we should expect much higher temperatures.

"It's not unusual for it to snow in March, in fact we are far more likely to see snow at Easter than at Christmas.

"What is unusual for March is how persistent the cold weather and snow is."

He added that it is too early to predict snow for Easter.

Campaigners opposed to a massive wind farm off the North Devon coast have said giving the proposal a "haircut" has not made it any less monstrous.

RWE npower renewables have today released an update to their plans for the Atlantic Array, billed as one of the largest green energy projects of its kind in Europe.

It scales down the footprint of the wind farm from 238 sq km to 200sq km and includes a decrease in the maximum number of turbines from 278 to 240. A new application will be submitted in June

However, Steve Crowther, spokesman for the Slay the Array campaign, said the adjustments were no more than "minor" tweaking and did not go far enough. "The developers seem to think that by lifting their petticoats and shaving a bit off the proposed development area nearest to the North Devon coast they will be making a difference," he said.

"But these 240 turbines, at 720ft tall, will still be less than 12 nautical miles off our coast, and twice the height of Lundy.

"The developers themselves admit that all 240 will be visible from Rhossili, St Govan's Head, Worms Head, Mumbles Head, Lynton, Ilfracombe, Mortehoe, Woolacombe, Putsborough, Baggy Point, Saunton Down, Westward Ho!, Clovelly, Windbury Head, West Titchberry and Lundy."

In addition, Mr Crowther said the changes would not reduce the hazard to harbour porpoises and other protected species which inhabit the area and would be threatened by the building programme.

Craig Harwood, project manager for the Atlantic Array, said that important refinements had been made following detailed analysis of the consultation held with local communities and statutory consultees last year.

He said the reduction in size and scale of the project would reduce the maximum capacity of the wind farm from 1,500 megawatts to 1,200 megawatts, which on average could supply 900,000 households per year with energy.

"The revisions to the proposed Atlantic Array wind farm are being made following the completion of additional studies and focus on the site boundary closest to Lundy and North Devon," said Mr Harwood.

"They build on the changes we made in 2012 to minimise environmental effects. Combined, these refinements deliver the most appropriate offshore wind farm scheme for the area from both a technical and environmental perspective.

"Atlantic Array remains a significant infrastructure project capable of making a large contribution to the UK's energy needs."

Mr Harwood said the array had already been good for business in the South West with 11.5% of contracts placed so far with Devon firms and almost as much again with companies in the region.

A renewable energy company is hoping to build two of its largest solar farms in the South West on sites in North Devon and North Cornwall.

Lightsource Renewable Energy aims to install solar panels at a 12.5 hectare site on farmland in Launceston and another on 16.25 hectares of agricultural land at Buckland Filleigh, near Great Torrington.

The company, which is yet to submit a formal planning application, is holding public consultations about both proposals over the coming week and proposes, if successful, to have both built by early autumn.

When constructed both solar farms, which could cost up to £8m to build, would have a lifespan of 25 years and produce 11.4MW collectively.

Conor McGuigan, Business Development Director, said: "Both sites were chosen primarily due to their lack of visibility and remoteness, and the fact we can strengthen field patterns on the sites with the hedgerow planting enhancing biodiversity.

"It was felt that the low visibility of the sites ensures the landscape character would not be harmed. When we develop a new solar farm, we are entering into an agreement with the landowner and council for a period of 25 years.

"We seek to build strong relationships with the local residents that are going to be our long-term neighbours."

It is estimated that when combined the two installations will generate the equivalent of the power used by 3,336 homes.

Lightsource has 26 solar farms operational or under construction in Devon and Cornwall a with only a few of its 62 developments outside the South West. A spokeswoman said that the South West was popular site for solar development.

She said: "Based on various studies, it has been proven that the South West of England benefits from high irradiance levels and this probably contributes to the popularity of installing solar PV."

The public consultation in Launceston takes place this Friday at Lawhitton Village Hall, from 5.30pm to 8pm, and in Buckland Filleigh at the village hall, on Monday, from 5pm to 8pm.

London Editor

Three South West Conservative MPs have defied David Cameron by voting against plans for regulation that critics say will end 300 years of a free Press.

A deal has been struck between the leaders of the three main parties to create a new newspaper watchdog recognised by a body established by Royal Charter, instead of full state legislation.

In the House of Commons, 13 Tory MPs voted against adding a clause to the existing Crime and Courts Bill which could see judges award punitive damages against publications which refuse to sign up to the new regime. Among the "rebels" were Sarah Wollaston (Totnes), Richard Drax (South Dorset) and Jacob Rees-Mogg (North East Somerset).

Dr Wollaston told MPs: "There has rightly been much talk about the victims of the Press, but we forget at our peril the victims of big pharma, of big corporations and of big state. I would far rather have our two-fingers- to-the-establishment, slightly out of control Press than a nervous press, a bankrupt press or a bland press."

Mr Drax, a former newspaper reporter, said in the Commons: "I warn everyone to think very carefully before taking too many further steps down this road, as it will in the future undermine the democracy and freedom we are in this place to defend and represent."

Mr Rees-Mogg, whose late father Lord Rees-Mogg edited The Times, warned of "the risk of increasing state power over our media leading not immediately to direct censorship, but to a self-censorship that we are already seeing, of the Press being reluctant to criticise the great and the good."

The measures voted through are intended as an incentive for publishers to co-operate with the new regulator. The exemplary damages provision, one of two pieces of statute required under the deal, was comfortably passed by a majority of 517, with backing from MPs including: Ben Bradshaw (Exeter, Labour), Oliver Colvile (Plymouth Sutton and Devonport, Conservative), Geoffrey Cox (Torridge and West Devon, C), George Eustice (Camborne and Redruth, C), Andrew George (St Ives, Lib Dem), Stephen Gilbert (St Austell and Newquay, Lib Dem), Sir Nick Harvey (North Devon, Lib Dem), David Heath (Somerton and Frome, Lib Dem), David Laws (Yeovil, Lib Dem), Oliver Letwin (West Dorset, C), Ian Liddell-Grainger (Bridgwater, C), Anne Marie Morris (Newton Abbot, C), Sheryll Murray (South East Cornwall, C), Sarah Newton (Truro and Falmouth, C), Neil Parish (Tiverton and Honiton, C), Dan Rogerson (North Cornwall, Lib Dem), Adrian Sanders, (Torbay, Lib Dem), Alison Seabeck (Plymouth Moor View, Lab), Gary Streeter (South West Devon, C), Hugo Swire (East Devon, C) and Mel Stride (Central Devon, C).

Almost half of Cornwall's 247 public toilets will be devolved to town and parish councils to run from the end of April.

Cornwall Council has invested around £850,000 in improving some of the 110 facilities including providing disabled access, as well as energy and water saving measures.

The unitary authority has also handed out around another £600,000 in grants to support the town and parish councils' running costs over the forthcoming financial year. It has been almost a year-and-a-half since the council announced its intention to close 114 of the toilets in the county in a bid to save it nearly £1.1 million.

However, after widespread opposition it postponed the decision and entered into negotiations with town and parish councils about transferring the facilities.

Councillor John Pollard, the portfolio holder for localism, said: "I fully acknowledge and understand the apprehension of some of those involved, but at last we have achieved a major success. Running their local facilities presents towns and parishes with the opportunity to provide and retain what they see as vital services. The funding packages and improvement works have made the transfer more acceptable to the parishes and towns and I am delighted that so many have decided to move forward in this way."

The decision to close the toilets was taken after Cornwall Council elected to review its non statutory services in light of a £170 million funding cut from the Government in 2010. It will continue to operate 56 facilities throughout Cornwall in locations where it says "exceptional circumstances" have been identified.

Bert Biscoe, Cornwall councillor for transportation, highways and environment, said it is possible charges could be introduced in places where no agreement has been reached with town or parish councils.

A tiny island council plunged into turmoil last year has a new interim chief.

The Council of the Isles of Scilly announced late yesterday afternoon that Barry Keel is to take over the top job on the islands for six months.

A retired chief executive of Plymouth City Council and at Darlington, Mr Keel will act as a consultant for six months where his role will be to "evaluate the current structures and processes."

As acting head of paid service and interim chief executive, Mr Keel will also undertake detailed consultations with councillors, staff and partners.

He will step into the chair left vacant by the departure of Philip Hygate in January, who took early retirement. The long-serving chief executive had been suspended since October to allow an investigation into his conduct in relation to Bryce Wilby, the headteacher of the islands' only school who was suspended last May then quit.

In a statement, Mr Keel said he was looking forward to his new role.

"The Isles of Scilly are a very special place in the South West and I feel very privileged to have been asked to help support this unitary authority in dealing with the very difficult times that local government faces.

"We are all having to closely examine the ways in which we have done things in the past and come up with new and more efficient ways of doing them in the future.

"This is not an easy task at times of increasing demand for services and declining budgets.

"I hope that my past experience and knowledge can help the Council of the Isles of Scilly to do this.

"I very much look forward to working with the all the community, councillors and staff ."

Mr Keel left Plymouth City Council last May.