THE QUEEN is to visit Exeter. Her Majesty The Queen and His Royal Highness The Duke Of Edinburgh will visit the city on Thursday, March 11. The Lord Mayor of Exeter, councillor John Winterbottom, said: The Queen last visited Exeter as part of her Golden

THE QUEEN is to visit Exeter.

Her Majesty The Queen and His Royal Highness The Duke Of Edinburgh will visit the city on Thursday, March 11.

The Lord Mayor of Exeter, councillor John Winterbottom, said: "The Queen last visited Exeter as part of her Golden Jubilee celebrations in 2002.

"She was met by our first ever Lord Mayor after she had bestowed Lord Mayoralty status on the city.

"It will be one of the highlights of my year of holding that position to welcome her and the Duke of Edinburgh, to our great City some eight years later."

The Princess Royal, meanwhile, will open a number of new Exeter fire stations later this month. She will officially open Middlemoor and Danes Castle on Friday, February 26.

EXETER City Council has appointed a new honorary alderman.

Ex Lord Mayor and councillor Val Dixon was appointed as alderman for the city at a special ceremony last Monday, February 8.

Val joined the council in 1996 as a ward councillor for Pinhoe until 2008. She was deputy mayor from 1999 until 2002 before being appointed mayor.

THE MET Office has vowed to improve the way it communicates complex data to the public to retain confidence in its predictions.

The Exeter-based forecaster predicted a 'barbeque summer' and a mild winter last year while the summer was wet and the winter harsh.

Professor Julia Singo, chief scientist at the Met Office, said the forecaster got 'a lot of the communication' wrong this winter which 'damaged us as an organisation.'

PRIME Minister Gordon Brown held a cabinet meeting in Exeter last week.

After jetting in from Belfast after talks to save the Irish power-sharing government from collapse, Mr Brown then visited Exeter Racecourse for a meeting with his most senior ministers.

The regional cabinet meeting is estimated to have cost �200,000.

A number of such sessions have taken place outside London, chaired by the PM. He decided that the cabinet should meet at sites around the country to engage with the public