Saltash tunnel work

– dates confirmed

WORK on the Saltash tunnel will start in October 2002 and finish in March 2003 – and will cost between five and ten million pounds, a meeting learned last week.

Only 20 people attended the meeting, chaired by deputy mayor Joyce Mepsted, at Saltash Guildhall.

The carriageway through the tunnel will be resurfaced and the whole of the inside of the tunnel will be protected by steel panels. These will obscure the existing and cracked concrete lining and provide a light reflective surface.

'Stagger' your visits

to the bottle bank!

CELEBRITY chef Kevin Woodford of 'Ready Steady Cook' fame has launched a festive campaign to visit the bank - that is, the bottle bank - in 'staggered' visits over Christmas and New Year!

Acting on behalf of glasspac.com, the packaging information of trade association, British Glass, Kevin says the aim of the campaign is to remind people to re-cycle all their empty drinks bottles a little at a time to prevent the banks overflowing in between collections, and also to consider re-cycling all glass food jars.

This Christmas the UK will consume 5.5 million jars of mincemeat, 12 million jars of pickles, and 6.5 million jars of cranberry sauce, but only a small percentage will be re-cycled.

Longer hours

for New Year

PUBS and clubs can open for up to a 36 hour period over New Year if they choose to, the Minister for Licensing announced this week.

Kim Howells announced that licenced premises, such as clubs, pubs and nightclubs can open between 11am on New Year's Eve and 11pm on New Year's Day; an extra 12 hours after normal closing time.

He said: 'Longer opening hours will give consumers more freedom to choose how and when to celebrate New Year's Eve and it will give the industry a chance to give their consumers what they want.'

Petition calls for

Cornish Assembly

THERE was a loud knock on the door of 10, Downing Street on Wednesday, from the people of Cornwall who are calling for a Cornish Assembly.

A petition with 50,000 signatures, collected in less than 18 months, was handed over the threshold by Bert Biscoe, chairman of the Cornish Constitutional Convention. It is hoped the widely backed campaign will win Government support for a devolved Assembly.

Dog owners prosecuted

THREE successful prosecutions of dog owners who let their animals foul a public area, have been notched up by Caradon council.

The council's three most recent prosecutions included a Liskeard woman whose dog messed a public footpath, a woman from St Cleer who let dog faeces build up in a garden, and a woman in Saltash who allowed her pet to stray and foul public places.