Wera Hobhouse MP inspired local members on a visit to South Devon at the weekend with her passion for Lib Dem campaigning, the importance of local government and her opposition to Brexit.

As part of a tour of Devon and Cornwall, Wera stopped off in South Brent to share a cream tea with members who had come from across the South Hams.

Linden Homes seems to have overlooked its landscaping obligations on the Camomile Lawn development in Totnes. There are a number of omissions on its part and they are as follows;

The first omission of Linden is its failure to construct a new Devon bank to the left of the access road running from the Duke Road junction to Paradise Walk. The bank should consist of an earth mound 800 mm high with turf pegged to the sides and topped with a new hedgerow of mixed planting.

The government has overhauled its national planning policy document - last updated in 2012 - and has put out a heavy 70-page document for public consultation.

I have not been able to pick up on all the elements in the document that could give cause for concern, but I have concentrated on the fact that it does little to respond to the huge problem we have in south Devon of a lack of affordable housing and the continual development aimed at wealthy second home owners.

Residents in Bigbury-on-Sea are fighting hard to prevent demolition of the oldest house in the village and the former Bay View Café.

Developers Galion are seeking to demolish it to replace with 4 new houses.

Local Lib Dem Councillor Beth Huntley campaigned with villagers against demolition in December, but since then the developer has resubmitted plans to try and win the planners over with drawings that include a cafe underneath one of the four houses.

The local Lib Dems have selected Totnes resident Caroline Voaden to be their prospective parliamentary candidate for the Totnes constituency at the next General Election.

Following her se lection Caroline said "I'm really thrilled to have been selected and pledge to start work straight away to win the Totnes seat for the Lib Dems. With the current government in chaos over Brexit and Labour trying to hold themselves together while they fail to provide any real opposition, I believe there's never been a better time to be fighting for the Lib Dems here. The campaign to win this seat starts now."

Conservative councillors have voted to increase Council Tax and car parking charges while closing public toilets. They refused to debate the option of increasing council tax on second homes when they dismissed budget amendments put forward by the Liberal Democrats at Follaton House on February 22nd.

More money for young people's mental health, children with special needs and Devon's schools is at the core of the alternative budget launched by the county's Liberal Democrats - but all amendments put before Devon County Council were voted down by the Conservatives when they passed their new budget on Thursday.

South Hams Lib Dems are dismayed at shocking new figures that show more than a third of children are now growing up in poverty in some areas of the South Hams.

The new figures, released by the End Child Poverty coalition, show that 39% of children in Totnes Bridgetown are now living in poverty and across the whole Totnes parliamentary constituency the figure is 29.3% of children - or nearly three in ten.