Local News Friday 6th May

    The result of the ballot in the local elections should be known at around 4 pm today. People in Somerset are being asked to check if they're eligible for a spring Covid booster. A Yeovil man who failed a breathalyser test after he tried to move a car that had been involved in an accident has been given a two-and-a-half-year driving ban. Somerset’s Lord Lieutenant, Annie Maw, is dedicating the second leg of her Jubilee Jaunt to Somerset Day and a man who moved from Somerset to America has planted traditional Somerset cider apple trees and is now making the drink popular in the US.

    The result of the ballot in the local elections should be known at around 4 pm today. Voting took place yesterday to elect 110 councillors to run the new unitary council for Somerset that will have responsibility for running all council services across the County from April next year. At that point, Somerset’s four district councils and the County Council will cease to exist. Votes are being counted at the Westland entertainment complex in Yeovil, with the results in the town and parish council elections also expected at around 4 pm today. You can hear all the results in a special local election programme here on Radio Ninesprings starting at 7 pm this evening.

    People in Somerset are being asked to check if they're eligible for a spring Covid booster. More than 29,000 people across the south west can book an appointment to top-up their immunity against the virus. This includes people aged over 75, people who are immunosuppressed aged 12 and over, and residents in care homes.

    A Yeovil man who failed a breathalyser test after he tried to move a car that had been involved in an accident has been given a two-and-a-half-year driving ban. Police were called to the scene of the accident after people saw Dumitru-Nicolae Geambasu swaying from side to side before getting into the driver’s seat and trying to drive off. He was later found to be more than four times over the drink-drive limit. Geambasu, of Higher Kingston in Yeovil, pleaded guilty to attempting to drive a vehicle after consuming excess alcohol when he appeared before Somerset Magistrates.

    Somerset’s Lord Lieutenant, Annie Maw, is dedicating the second leg of her Jubilee Jaunt to Somerset Day. Annie sets off on the second leg of her Jubilee Jaunt from Holyrood Academy in Chard at 9 am on Somerset Day next Wednesday, May 11th.  The route will take her past Chard Guildhall, to Avishayes Primary School, through Donyatt, then Ilminster, ending up at Dillington House at around 2 pm.

    A man who moved from Somerset to America has planted traditional Somerset cider apple trees and is now making the drink popular in the US. John Hamblin lives in Oregon where he’s planted an orchard of various cider apple types.

    More from News

    • Thursday 28th March

      The waiting room and public toilets at Yeovil bus station that have fallen victim to Somerset Council spending cuts, will shut for good this weekend. A banking hub will not be provided in Ilminster when the town's last bank closes later this year. A rugby player who punched an opponent during a game in Sherborne has been ordered to pay his victim £4,000 in compensation...and more.

    • Wednesday 27th March

      Twenty-mile-an-hour speed zones are being introduced in fifteen areas across Somerset, including on roads in Chard and Ilchester. Plans to build fifty new houses at Broadway near Ilminster have been scrapped. Two people have appeared at Yeovil Magistrates Court charged with multiple drug offences...and more.

    • Tuesday 26th March

      More than two hundred and fifty new homes are to be built on the northern edge of Yeovil following a successful appeal to the Planning Inspectorate. The Shindig Music Festival, held on the Dillington Estate near Ilminster, has announced that this year's event will be their last. A hip replacement procedure at Yeovil Hospital, that can be done without patients needing an overnight hospital stay, has won a top award...and more.

    • Monday 25th March

      Twenty-five new electric buses will soon start running on Somerset’s roads thanks to a £14.7 million Government investment in public transport. A record number of houses were sold in Chard last year making it one of the most popular towns in Somerset to live in. Yeovil's Marlie Packer won her 100th cap with the England Women’s Rugby team playing Italy in a Six Nations game yesterday...and more.

    • Friday 22nd March

      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.

    • Thursday 21st March

      A four-year-long, one-million-pound regeneration project in Chard, to improve the look of the town centre is nearing completion. Bus users have criticised a decision to cut a bus route between Wells and Yeovil. Yeovil is one of only three towns in Somerset to win a place in the finals of the national Britain in Bloom competition...and more

    • Wednesday 20th March

      Eighty-one motorists were caught using a mobile phone at the wheel during a two-week crackdown carried out by Avon and Somerset Police. People in Crewkerne are being asked to report incidents of fly tipping to the Town Council. A nurse at Yeovil Hospital will be raising money for the Roald Dahl Marvellous Children’s Charity when she competes in this year’s London Marathon...and more.

    • Tuesday 19th March

      Visit Somerset says the number of people visiting Somerset's tourist attraction is on the increase, despite a downturn in visitor numbers at UK tourist attractions. A new doctors’ surgery could soon open in Bruton as part of a new housing scheme. A campaign’s been launched in Bradford Abbas for the village to be given back a post box... and more.

    Today's Weather

    • Yeovil

      Light rain shower

      High: 12°C | Low: 4°C

    • Chard

      Sunny intervals

      High: 12°C | Low: 4°C

    • Crewkerne

      Sunny intervals

      High: 12°C | Low: 4°C

    • Somerton

      Heavy rain shower

      High: 12°C | Low: 4°C

    • Wincanton

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      High: 12°C | Low: 4°C

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