Somerset Council is taking legal action to remove an arms company from one of its commercial properties. Waste collection days across Somerset are set to change next month due to two impending bank holidays. An archaeological survey has begun on the proposed site of a new skate park in Bruton... and more.
Somerset Council is taking legal action to remove an arms company from one of its commercial properties. The council owns a number of commercial properties, the majority of which it inherited when district councils were abolished in 2023. They include offices at Aztec West in Bristol occupied by a defence contractor who, it is claimed, supplies arms to Israel. In recent weeks, Somerset Council has been targeted by the pro-Palestinian campaign group Palestine Action for providing office accommodation to arms suppliers linked with Israel. The company at the centre of the row claims all activities from its Bristol base are geared towards supporting the British army and are not related to the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.
Waste collection days across Somerset are set to change next month due to two impending bank holidays. During the weeks beginning Monday, May 6th, and Monday, May 27th, recycling, refuse and garden waste collections will be one day later than usual. Somerset’s recycling sites will be open as usual from 9 am to 4 pm on weekends, and if opening on a Monday is part of their normal opening pattern, they will be open on both Bank Holiday Mondays from 9 am to 6 pm.
Street Football Club has been given permission to sell alcohol and hold events until 1 am on Friday and Saturday nights. The Club had asked Somerset Council to amend its existing licence, allowing it to sell alcohol and play music until late into the night at its Tannery ground on Middle Brooks. Despite objections from residents, the Council's licensing sub-committee East voted to grant the new licence after receiving assurances from both the Club and the Police.
An archaeological survey has begun on the proposed site for building a new skate park in Bruton. Final approval for the skate park in Jubilee Park still has to be given, with £87,000 raised so far to pay for it.
Work laying a gas main on the A37 Dorchester Road near the Quicksilver Mail roundabout in Yeovil is to continue for a further two months. Somerset Council says the public toilets in Yeovil bus station will close at the end of the month but the waiting room will stay open temporarily. Former Yeovil Town Captain, Josh Staunton, has set up in business as a professional gardener...and more.
Somerset Council seeking to save £40 million by cutting one thousand jobs says 201 employees have so far applied to leave the authority based on voluntary redundancy. East Somerset Railway near Shepton Mallet has been used for filming the TV adaptation of Jilly Cooper's novel Rivals. An old-style red phone box in Castle Cary is being turned into Somerset's smallest museum...and more
Somerset's Chief Medical Officer says GP surgeries using healthcare professionals alongside doctors to provide treatments has freed up GP appointments. A farmer has been fined £15,000 for polluting a household water supply. Avon and Somerset’s new Police and Crime Commissioner has officially started work in the role. Chard Post Office is closed today for the handover of the business to new owners...and more.
Health inspectors have criticised Somerset's maternity services, including those at Yeovil Hospital. Somerset Council says re-opening Yeovil’s Octagon Theatre in its original form could cost up to £200,000 if a multi-million-pound upgrade of the building falls through. A film made by a Yeovil man on a budget of just five thousand pounds was screened at the prestigious British Independent Film Festival...and more.
The Ferne Animal Sanctuary near Chard says it needs an immediate injection of £100,000 to keep going. Yeovil’s Marlie Packer has returned to Yeovil Rugby Club where she began her rugby career 20 years ago. Twenty-five Town criers from across the South will be in Ilminster tomorrow competing in the annual Ilminster Town Criers' Competition...and more.
Train services through Somerset are again being disrupted today due to continued strike action by the train driver’s union ALSEF. A campaign has been launched in Somerset aimed at stopping people overdosing on opioids. A Somerset business is raising a smile with its name.‘Top Of The Clops’, a tack shop near Taunton has won a place in the top ten of the UK’s funniest business names...and more.
A woman driver has been told she faces a prison term for causing the deaths of two people in a crash on the A303. The AA says there are more potholes than ever on Somerset’s motorway network, leading to an increase in damage to vehicles. The new cancer treatment unit at Yeovil Hospital should be open before the end of the year...and more.
Somerset Council has decided against selling the former Wilko store in Lower Middle Street in Yeovil. There’s a treat for snooker fans with Steve Davis and Dennis Taylor coming to Yeovil. An Air Engineering Commander at RNAS Yeovilton is taking on the Jurassic Coast 100km Ultra Challenge for charity...and more
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