Somerset County Council is to end its lease agreement on renting Dillington House, near Ilminster. The Falkland Square shopping centre in Crewkerne has a new owner. There’ll be no fireworks display at Sherborne Castle this year. Somerset County Council says it’s expecting more care homes to shut this winter because of rising costs and staff shortages. Wessex Water is undertaking water main works on two roads in Chard and Ilminster later this month...and more.
Local News Friday 23rd September
Somerset County Council is to end its lease agreement on renting Dillington House, near Ilminster. The council has been a tenant at the stately home since the 1960s using it for adult education and weddings. Somerset County Council says it’s pulling out because it can no longer justify the costs involved in subsidising the running of the venue.
The Falkland Square shopping centre in Crewkerne has a new owner. The complex that consists of eleven retail units has been acquired by Evolve Estates Ltd, a firm of London-based property investors.
There’ll be no fireworks display at Sherborne Castle this year. The event was due to take place on Saturday, November 4th but organisers have cancelled holding it blaming rising costs.
Somerset County Council says it’s expecting more care homes to shut this winter because of rising costs and staff shortages. Eight homes in Somerset went out of business in the last six months. The council has set aside 1.2 million pounds to deal with any further closures.
Wessex Water is undertaking water main works on two roads in Chard and Ilminster later this month. From October 3rd to November 25th temporary traffic lights will operate on the old A303 through Ilminster as work takes place there. In Chard, Summerfields Road will be closed in places from September 22nd to November 3rd for repairs to take place.
Sixteen-year-old, Becca Randolph from Chaffcombe, near Chard, has raised £750 for charity by taking part in a skydive. Becca made her brave descent at Dunkeswell Airfield near Honiton last weekend and has donated the money she raised to a national learning disability charity.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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.
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.