A Yeovil care home has been placed in special measures following a damning report by the Care Quality Commission. Work to regenerate Yeovil town centre is set to begin more than a year later than first planned. The owners of Kilver Court shopping outlet in Shepton Mallet have decided to sell the site. Somerset distance runner, Hannah Taunton, is being tipped for honours at the Tokyo Paralympics.
A Yeovil care home has been placed in special measures following a damning report by the Care Quality Commission. Ferns Nursing Home in St Michaels Avenue in Yeovil was inspected in May and given the lowest possible rating of inadequate. Inspectors found numerous faults in the way the home was run, including that Covid risk assessments had not been undertaken in line with published guidance. The home now has now been given six months in which to address the CQC’s findings or face possible closure. A spokesperson for the operators, Almondsbury Care Ltd, said a comprehensive action plan had been drawn up and significant progress made in implementing the plan
Work to regenerate Yeovil town centre is set to begin more than a year later than first planned. South Somerset District Council had promised the first phase of Yeovil Refresh involving pavement improvements to Westminster Street would begin last summer. The date was then moved to late 2020 and then to June this year. The Council blames the delay in finalising road closure arrangements with Somerset County Council. SSDC now says the improvement works to Westminster Street will begin in September.
The owners of Kilver Court shopping outlet in Shepton Mallet have decided to sell the site due to the challenges of the pandemic. It was bought 25 years ago as the headquarters for Mulberry. Many of the businesses there, including the Great House, the Fashion Emporium, the Plant Nursery and the Garden Kitchen Restaurant will close in three weeks time.
Somerset distance runner, Hannah Taunton, is being tipped for honours at the Tokyo Paralympics. When the games get underway next week, Hannah will compete in the T20 1500 meters. Her coach Charlotte Fisher thinks she stands a good chance at making the podium.
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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