Local News Monday 7th August

Monday, 7 August 2023 06:00

By Steve Haigh

Somerset Council is being asked to rethink its decision not to re-open Chinnock Hollow. Yeovil is to get a new NHS diagnostic centre under plans announced by the Government. The NSPCC is urging parents in Somerset not to leave their young children at home unsupervised this summer. The search is on for old home movie footage of Yeovil railway station...and more.

Somerset Council is being asked to rethink its decision not to re-open Chinnock Hollow. The cut-through linking East Chinnock with Odcombe was closed by a landslide in February 2021. Somerset Council says it would cost two-point-seven-million pounds to make the road safe and the expenditure can’t be justified. West Coker Parish Council is contesting the decision, claiming Somerset Council’s risk assessment to bring the road back into use is flawed and should be looked at again.

Yeovil is to get a new NHS diagnostic centre under plans announced by the Government. It’s one of thirteen places to be selected for the facility in England. The centre’s aimed at reducing waiting lists and will be run privately on behalf of the NHS.

Police are appealing for witnesses and dashcam footage to a road traffic accident in Yeovil in which a motorcycle and car collided. The bike rider was seriously injured and died later in hospital. It happened last Thursday at around 4:30 pm at the junction of Western Avenue and Malmesbury Way, near to the ASDA roundabout. If you can help, please call the non-emergency number 101.

The NSPCC is urging parents in Somerset not to leave their young children at home unsupervised this summer. Last summer, the charity says it received more than one-thousand calls from people concerned about a child being left at home unsupervised.

Ilminster Arts Centre has been boosted with a grant award of twenty-five thousand pounds. The Arts Centre says the money, given by the Postcode Local Trust, will be spent on bringing amazing art and culture to Ilminster.

The search is on for old home movie footage of Yeovil railway station. It’s for a new heritage film about the Yeovil to Taunton rail line that closed in the 1960s being compiled by local film maker, Phil Lilley.

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Wednesday 29th October

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Tuesday 28th October

Plans have been submitted to build 12 new homes in Chard. A nursery in Yeovil has been rated ‘overall good' by Ofsted. A Somerset mortgage broker has achieved national recognition. A stretch of the M5 at Wellington will be shut every night this week...and more
Monday 27th October

The Unite union has announced four days of strikes by its members at Leonardo in Yeovil. One of Yeovil’s busiest roads is closed to traffic today. Staff at the Ferne Animal Sanctuary near Chard raised £3,000 taking part in a Sleeping Ruff challenge at the weekend...and more
Friday 24th October

New figures show that 500 young people were either injured or killed on roads in Somerset and Devon last year. The Old School Community Centre in Queen Camel has reopened, thanks to a donation of £10,000 from Somerset Freemasons. Two Fleet Air Arm engineers based at RNAS Yeovilton have recreated a family moment from 26 years ago...and more
Thursday 23rd October

Yeovil-born actress Sarah Parish is supporting efforts to reopen the Octagon theatre. Mobility scooter campaigners in Somerset have welcomed a government review of the legislation governing the use of mobility scooters on public highways. Changes are being made to the dates when garden waste is collected in Somerset...and more
Wednesday 22nd October

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Tuesday 21st October

Reckleford in Yeovil is to shut for 15 days for essential drainage works. Somerset NHS Foundation Trust has paid out compensation of £23 million for claims related to birth injuries. A Grade II listed building in Glastonbury has been converted into a health and wellbeing centre...and more