Around forty new jobs could be created at Leonardo in Yeovil. Test flights for so-called air taxis are set to take place in the South West by 2024. Somerset Wildlife Trust has criticised the government for delaying the introduction of new laws to protect Beavers and South Somerset District Council made an income of £2.8 million pounds from two battery storage sites.
Around forty new jobs could be created at Leonardo in Yeovil following a sixty million pound contract awarded by the government. It’s to deliver a new type of drone, capable of taking off and landing vertically, for the Royal Navy. Leonardo says the bulk of the work on the Rotary Wing Un-crewed Air System Technology Programme, will take place at its factory on Lysander Road in Yeovil.
Test flights for so-called air taxis are set to take place in the South West by 2024. Unveiled at the Farnborough Air Show, they would take off and land vertically like a helicopter, carrying up to four passengers and travelling at speeds of up to 200 miles an hour.
Somerset Wildlife Trust has criticised the government for delaying the introduction of new laws to protect Beavers. The Trust claims research has shown that Beavers help with flood management and improve water quality. The Trust is urging the government to get on with giving Beavers greater protection because of the good they do.
South Somerset District Council made an income of £2.8 million pounds from two battery storage sites that it owns in the last financial year April 2021 to March 2022. The Council invested £43.5 in creating the sites - one of which is on the outskirts of Taunton and the other near Fareham in Hampshire. The sites store surplus electricity and sell it back to the National Grid at peak times.
A new 'family style' children's home for vulnerable children has opened in Somerset. Railway services between Yeovil and Exeter will run less frequently and at a slower speed from this week. A Crewkerne man has been given a one-year driving ban for drug driving. Chard Town Council says the public toilets near Sainsbury’s have been deep cleaned in preparation for re-opening them...and more.
Bus drivers with First Bus in Somerset are being balloted about possible strike action. Six thousand pounds has been raised towards repairing a boat, used for sightseeing trips on the River Parrett in Langport, after vandals damaged it. A hedgehog rescue charity in Somerset is facing closure due to a lack of funds...and more
Somerset Council has paused roadworks on Fore Street in Chard indefinitely due to unforeseen complications. A Somerset farming family says they've lost faith in the government over plans to introduce inheritance tax on farm estates. Memories are being revived of a Live Aid concert in Yeovil from 40 years ago, which raised money for famine relief in Ethiopia.
The owners of Yeovil Town Football Club say that they are hopeful of concluding a deal with Somerset Council to buy back Huish Park very soon. Hestercombe House and Gardens near Taunton has gone into administration. The Government is eyeing up the possibility of using brownfield land near railway lines in Somerset for house building...and more
A fire at the former Mermaid Hotel in Yeovil town centre is being treated as accidental. People with premium bonds in Somerset are being encouraged to check their numbers as over 800-thousand pounds of prizes remain unclaimed. Chard is set to commemorate the 80th anniversary of Victory over Japan Day later this month...and more.
A college merger in Somerset has created one of the largest education groups in the UK. People in Somerset are being encouraged to report drivers who misuse disabled parking bays. A D-Day veteran from Somerset is celebrating his 100th birthday this week...and more
The planned £15m regeneration of Yeovil's Octagon Theatre has been delayed again. A case of the most serious strain of Avian Flu has been confirmed in Yeovil. The main A378 road through Langport will be shut to traffic from today and for the next four weeks...and more.
A family in Marston Magna is trying to get a relative home from a holiday in Greece, where he's been taken seriously ill. The fire service is warning of the dangers of leaving mirrors in view of direct sunlight. Residents in Touchstone Lane in Chard have started a new community speed watch group...and more
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