Friday 22nd March

Friday, 22 March 2024 11:35

By Steve Haigh

A by-election for a seat on Yeovil Town Council has been won by the Yeovil Independents. Owners of empty properties in Somerset will be paying double in council tax from April. A Somerset man is celebrating after finding England’s largest ever nugget of gold, said to be worth £30,000, using a metal detector...and more.

A by-election held in the Westland ward in Yeovil for a seat on Yeovil Town Council has been won by Ruth White for the Yeovil Independents. She polled 482 votes, beating Justice Jimba for the Liberal Democrats on 335 votes into second place. Terry Ledlie for Labour came third with 123 votes. The result increases Yeovil Independents' representation on Yeovil Town Council to 3 members.

Owners of empty properties in Somerset will be paying double in council tax from April. It follows a decision by Somerset Council to charge double council tax on properties left empty for 12 months or more. The Council estimates the change will raise an extra £1.7 million every year in council tax revenues.

Plans to build 24 new homes in Martock have finally been approved, four years after they were first proposed. Stonewater Housing Association has won permission to build the properties on Foldhill Lane, opposite the La Fontana dementia nursing home. The application had been delayed by the phosphates issue, with the developer having to put in place additional mitigation measures. Construction is expected to start later this year.

A Somerset man is celebrating after finding England’s largest-ever nugget of gold using a metal detector. Richard Brocks nearly missed the search in Shropshire, turning up hours late and with dodgy equipment. His find, estimated to be worth £30,000, has now been put up for auction online.

Funding's been secured to expand a programme in Somerset helping women back into work after becoming parents. Set up four years ago, the Woman's Work Lab has supported over 300 mothers with up to 70 per cent returning to employment. Now three courses a year are being run locally.

Herne Hill Nature Reserve in Ilminster is to be provided with five new dog waste bins. Ilminster Town Council has been given funding for the bins through the Community Champion Fund run by Persimmon Homes South West. The Council says the bins should create a cleaner and safer environment for people visiting the reserve.

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Monday 16th June

The new owner of Yeovil Town says he’s in talks with Somerset Council about buying back Huish Park. Water levels at some of Somerset’s reservoirs are below what they should be for this time of year. A Chard woman has been recognised in the King's Birthday Honours... and more.
Friday 13th June

Police are appealing for witnesses to a road traffic accident near Chard, which left one person with life-threatening injuries. Texas Rocks in Middle Street, Yeovil, has closed temporarily following a significant fire. A Yeovil dental hygienist has been named as a finalist in the Ms Great Britain competition...and more.
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.