A Crewkerne man who drove his car on the wrong side of the M5 crashing head-on with another car and seriously injuring a passenger has been sentenced. Somerset Council says its commercial investments are not providing any net income due to rising interest rates. Organisers of South Petherton Carnival are appealing for more entries for this year’s event...and more.
A Crewkerne man who drove his car on the wrong side of the M5 crashing head-on with another car and seriously injuring a passenger has been given a sixteen-month suspended prison sentence and banned from driving for two-and-a-half years. Ryan Physick, aged twenty-seven, of Langmead Road, Crewkerne, admitted causing injury by dangerous driving and having no insurance. Exeter Crown Court was told that Physick failed a roadside breath test and told officers he’d been drinking to celebrate his birthday.
Somerset Council says its commercial investments are not providing any net income due to rising interest rates. Somerset's former four district councils, including South Somerset and the County Council, spent two-hundred-and-ninety million pounds buying properties with the aim of using the rental income to fund public service. Somerset Council, who took over ownership of the properties in April, says the returns are now less than the original borrowings and are losing money rather than generating income. It says the value of the properties, which include the Wilko store and Marks and Spencer store in Yeovil, have dropped by twenty-five million to two-hundred-and-sixty-five million pounds.
Organisers of South Petherton Carnival are appealing for more floats for this year’s event. South Petherton is the first illuminated carnival on the South Somerset circuit and takes place on Saturday 9th September. It’s free to enter and details can be found on South Petherton Carnival Facebook page.
Station Road in Crewkerne will be closed for three days next week. Work to resurface the road starts on Monday and should be completed by Wednesday. Access for residents and businesses will be maintained with a diversion in operation.
Ilminster Town Council is appealing for the return of a waste bin that’s disappeared from the Shurdrick stream at Ladymeade. They that until the bin is returned, people in Ladymeade should take their litter home with them.
A new website has been launched to support people in Somerset with mental health issues. One of Yeovil’s oldest pubs has been sold. Artwork on the theme of aviation produced by students at Yeovil College has gone on display at Leonardo Helicopters in Yeovil.A pupil at Tatworth Primary School near Chard has won a prize in a national competition for writing a book review...and more
Work laying a gas main on the A37 Dorchester Road near the Quicksilver Mail roundabout in Yeovil is to continue for a further two months. Somerset Council says the public toilets in Yeovil bus station will close at the end of the month but the waiting room will stay open temporarily. Former Yeovil Town Captain, Josh Staunton, has set up in business as a professional gardener...and more.
Somerset Council seeking to save £40 million by cutting one thousand jobs says 201 employees have so far applied to leave the authority based on voluntary redundancy. East Somerset Railway near Shepton Mallet has been used for filming the TV adaptation of Jilly Cooper's novel Rivals. An old-style red phone box in Castle Cary is being turned into Somerset's smallest museum...and more
Somerset's Chief Medical Officer says GP surgeries using healthcare professionals alongside doctors to provide treatments has freed up GP appointments. A farmer has been fined £15,000 for polluting a household water supply. Avon and Somerset’s new Police and Crime Commissioner has officially started work in the role. Chard Post Office is closed today for the handover of the business to new owners...and more.
Health inspectors have criticised Somerset's maternity services, including those at Yeovil Hospital. Somerset Council says re-opening Yeovil’s Octagon Theatre in its original form could cost up to £200,000 if a multi-million-pound upgrade of the building falls through. A film made by a Yeovil man on a budget of just five thousand pounds was screened at the prestigious British Independent Film Festival...and more.
The Ferne Animal Sanctuary near Chard says it needs an immediate injection of £100,000 to keep going. Yeovil’s Marlie Packer has returned to Yeovil Rugby Club where she began her rugby career 20 years ago. Twenty-five Town criers from across the South will be in Ilminster tomorrow competing in the annual Ilminster Town Criers' Competition...and more.
Train services through Somerset are again being disrupted today due to continued strike action by the train driver’s union ALSEF. A campaign has been launched in Somerset aimed at stopping people overdosing on opioids. A Somerset business is raising a smile with its name.‘Top Of The Clops’, a tack shop near Taunton has won a place in the top ten of the UK’s funniest business names...and more.
A woman driver has been told she faces a prison term for causing the deaths of two people in a crash on the A303. The AA says there are more potholes than ever on Somerset’s motorway network, leading to an increase in damage to vehicles. The new cancer treatment unit at Yeovil Hospital should be open before the end of the year...and more.
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