Friday 17th November

Friday, 17 November 2023 06:00

By Steve Haigh

Somerset Council is calling on the government to take urgent action to fix the funding crisis in social care. Business activity across the South West stabilised in October, according to a new report from NatWest. The go-ahead has been given to build 35 new homes at Broadway, near Ilminster...and more.

The Leader of Somerset Council, Councillor Bill Revans is calling on the government to take urgent action to fix the funding crisis in social care. He’s written to the Levelling-up Secretary, Michael Gove, saying the current funding formula for local government does not reflect the actual costs involved in providing essential public services, in particular, social care. Earlier this month, Somerset Council, who are facing a funding gap of £100m in the next financial year, declared a financial emergency and plan to make big spending cuts to help balance the books. In his letter to the government, Councillor Revans says the Council’s overspend is not because of poor controls, but the increased costs of delivering essential services.

Age UK says people in Somerset need to be better prepared for the new digital landline rollout. The UK phone network is going digital by 2025 with landline phones working via a broadband connection, instead of analogue.

The Environment Agency says it is working ‘around the clock’ to minimise the flood risk with more rain forecast over the weekend. The EA is working with Somerset Rivers Authority and Somerset Council to manage the situation, with extra pumps brought into use on the Somerset Levels.

Business activity across the South West stabilised in October, according to the latest Business Activity report from NatWest. The Bank says the trend breaks four months of regional decline and contrasts with a dip in economic performance across the UK as a whole. The Business Activity Index, which measures month-on-month change in output for manufacturing and the service sector, reported stability in October at 50.1 per cent, compared to 47.8 per cent in September.

The go-ahead has been given to build 35 new homes at Broadway, near Ilminster. The scheme, on the north-western edge of the village, is less than one mile from the proposed Ding Meadow development, where 28 new homes are planned behind the Bell Inn. The properties are expected to range from two to four bedrooms in size, with 12 being affordable and five as bungalows.

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Friday 13th June

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Thursday 12th June

Yeovil MP Adam Dance has criticised the Chancellor’s Spending Review for not delivering real change for Yeovil and South Somerset. The CEO of Leonardo UK states that they’re working towards closing the gender pay gap within the company. Yeovil Town is relocating its first-team training camp to Bristol... and more.
Wednesday 11th June

People in Somerset are being asked for their views on the state of the county’s roads and footpaths. A trial is being conducted at Yeovil Hospital to investigate whether administering shorter courses of antibiotics to patients can effectively treat sepsis. Somerset Council says it has no plans to reopen a block of public toilets in Chard...and more.
Tuesday 10th June

A mother from Chard says schools need to do more to identify students with dyslexia. A fire in a van that caught alight at Stoke-sub-Hamdon is being treated as accidental. A former Yeovil-based police officer, who made it appear he was working when he wasn’t, has been barred from policing...and more
Monday 9th June

Somerset Council is giving £1.5m to Hill View Special School at Ash near Martock to prevent it from closing. Two men have been convicted of killing a Yeovil man they mistakenly believed to be a convicted paedophile. People across Somerset are being asked to make a note of any wildlife they see...and more
Friday 6th June

Community Speedwatch volunteers in Keinton Mandeville have stopped monitoring the local traffic because of online and verbal abuse. Redstart Primary School in Chard has been rated as ‘Good’ by Ofsted. A care home resident in Glastonbury has raised more than one thousand pounds for Children's Hospice Southwest by knitting soft toys...and more.
Thursday 5th June

Yeovil MP Adam Dance says he’s been told the temporary closure of the maternity unit at Yeovil Hospital will not be made permanent. Firefighters have dealt with a fire on a coach carrying passengers at Vagg Hill in Yeovil. The authorities in Chile are holding a man who lives in Milborne Port after being found with class-A drugs in a suitcase...and more.