Devon & Cornwall Live: As it happened

Bodyguards are to be hired to protect nesting swans at Helston's Flora Day because the event can be "very disturbing" for the birds, a local councillor says.

Flora Day attracts thousands to the Cornish town every May, but the event coincides with swans nesting at Coronation Lake. Last year, a swan laid eggs on the edge of the road, leading to an area being fenced off (pictured).

Rebecca WilburCopyright: Rebecca Wilbur

Councillor Dave Potter said: "When it gets very busy, it's very disturbing for the swans at that very critical time of their cycle."

The council has backed a plan by local photographer Rebecca Wilbur to employ the guards, and a social media campaign has raised £310 to cover the cost.

The government is being urged to do more to tackle environmental pollution in Cornwall.

North Cornwall Conservative MP Scott Mann told the House of Commons that councils in the county needed more help from Whitehall. He cited the example of Camelford, saying it "suffers from very high levels of pollution because the A39 runs through the town centre".

Environment Minister Therese Coffey replied: "National and local government have parts to play in finding solutions to solve congestion issues, and we will continue to work on this matter."

Yesterday, Radio Cornwall's James Churchfield tweeted how he had encountered a lack of courgettes locally.

It's fast making itself a national issue, with some supermarkets nationwide struggling to stock courgettes and spinach in particular, blaming empty shelves on bad weather in Spain and Italy.

BBCCopyright: BBC

And the issue has even inspired its own hashtag on Twitter, with many shoppers taking to social media to vent their frustrations over the #courgettecrisis, our own James included.

His tweet is included in today's BBC News Online story about the situation, which you can read here.

Torbay Council has refused to back a campaign to safeguard the future of playing fields in Torquay.

The fields, in Watcombe, were created as a memorial to King George V in 1936, but it's now transpired that the proper paperwork to create a trust was never completed.

There's now a new campaign for the playing fields to be properly registered, to protect them from future development.

A Liverpool man is accused of dealing heroin in Exeter jail – where the drug is worth four times the street price.

Tonight, there will be another frost for most inland areas, with largely clear skies overnight. But it may be cloudier at times in the far west and near the south coast.

Light or moderate east or northeasterly winds will again be fresher over exposed parts of the south coast. Minimum temperature: -2C (28F).

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Friday will be another dry, cold and mainly sunny day, with some patchy cloud still likely to affect the far west and parts of the south coast.

Light or moderate east or northeasterly winds will be occasionally fresh near the south coast. Maximum temperature: 8C (46F).

• More reporting of sexual offences, text message abuse and online trolling have all contributed to a 6% increase in recorded crimes, Devon and Cornwall Police say 
• Cornwall NHS managers say no decision has been made over the future numbers of community hospital beds, but say they face a budget deficit of £264m by the end of the decade
• Three vehicles were involved in a road collision on the A30 in Penzance
• A bullock that got stuck in a slurry pit in north Devon has been rescued by fire crews
• Swans are to be given security guards to ensure their nests are not disturbed during Helston's Flora Day

Supplies are expected to be restored by 20:00.

• In Devon, traffic is queueing in both directions on the A361 near Swimbridge after an incident
• In Braunton, there are reports of an incident on Higher Park Road around Lower Park Road
• At Parracombe on the A39, we've got reports there's an incident around Parracombe Lane
• In Cornwall, there are reports of an accident in Pentewan, on Pentewan Hill, around The Square

Health campaigners have warned NHS managers in Cornwall they have huge fears for the future of services under a five-year plan being worked up.

They said they feared a "flawed approach" in the county's Sustainability and Transformation Plan, or STP, could lead to some privatisation in the NHS.

Health campaigner Graham Webster said he had long argued that Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly was not fairly funded, so the STP "simply won't work".

Clinical commissioning group NHS Kernow said it oversaw a budget of £760m a year, but changes were needed because it had a projected deficit of £54m by the end of this year.

Dr Iain Chorlton, chairman of NHS Kernow, added that there was "evidence there's variation [of services] around the county; we can do better, improve the quality of care".

A mining firm planning to dig for lithium in Cornwall says it hopes its work will put Cornwall "back on the map" as a mining centre.

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

Lithium ion batteries for mobile phones and other electronic devices, have made the rare metal much more valuable. And with electric cars driving a whole new market for lithium - and fast - this is an eye-catching scheme.

But most of the local mining proposals announced in the last 15 years haven't come to fruition. Or not yet anyway.

And the lithium scheme has a double layer of uncertainty: not only do they need to persuade investors they can find enough lithium, they also have to persuade them there's a cost-effective way of extracting it.

• In Torquay, Castle Circus is partially blocked due to an incident near Castle Road
• In Exeter, Rydon Lane is partially blocked between Parkland Drive and Quarry Lane due to an incident. Traffic is slow moving

Motorists are being warned to expect two months of misery as Torbay ring road is set to be closed in Paignton for major improvement works.

Andrew SegalCopyright: Andrew Segal

Cornwall Council is to debate spending more than £500,000 on a bid for Truro to become European Capital of Culture in 2023.

The council's Cabinet is looking at spending £536,000 to support the bid, if it goes ahead.

Documents for the meeting next Wednesday say tourism organisation Visit Cornwall estimated that if the city did get the title, it would "bring an additional 984,000 visitors to Cornwall, generating £109m additional visitor spend, supporting 2,193 additional jobs".

If the Cabinet decides to approve the move - it can also vote not to bid, or to bid with a smaller budget - its final bid would have to be submitted before October 2017.

Three vehicles have been involved in a road collision on the A30 in Penzance.

Firefighters were called to the Branwell Lane roundabout at Eastern Green at about 13:55.

One of the vehicles had a fuel leak which firefighters used granules to absorb. It is not known if anyone was injured.

BBC South West Travel said that the road was partially blocked and traffic was slow-moving on the A30 and in the town centre.

Cornwall looks set for a mining revival amid plans to tap into huge reserves of precious metal lithium in what could put the UK at the forefront of a potential £70bn global market. 

Lithium - dubbed "white petroleum" - is used in the rapidly growing market for electric cars and rechargeable batteries in everything from mobile phones to cordless vacuums. 

Mining company Cornish Lithium wants to use new technology to extract lithium from hot spring brines in the granite deep underground in Cornwall, which would make the county the UK and Europe's only major source of the valuable metal.

Jeremy Wrathall, 53, who owns the company with his wife, is hoping to raise £5m to start initial exploration tests, with around four or five well drills expected to be set up under the agreement, which covers a large area centred around Camborne, Redruth and St Day.

Rex FeaturesCopyright: Rex Features

Exeter City forward Reuben Reid says he was elated to score his 100th career goal.

The 28-year-old reached the landmark in Exeter's 3-0 win at Grimsby Town in League Two on 14 January.

"It was a proud moment," Reid, who has played for 13 clubs during a near 11-year career, told BBC Sport. "I've had managers and people tell me that I wouldn't play 100 games, so to get 100 goals is quite an achievement, especially for the position I play."

Reid has scored five times for Exeter since joining the Grecians in September.

Cornwall Council is set to spend more than half a million pounds to bid for Truro to be European Capital of Culture in 2023.