Local News Thursday 21st April

Thursday, 21 April 2022 06:00

Egg producers in Somerset are warning of shortages because of soaring costs. It’s costing more than half-a-million pounds every year for police to enforce the badger cull in Somerset. Somerset’s Public Health team is again urging older and more vulnerable people to take up the offer of a free, further Covid-19 booster jab. Academics from the University of Reading are appealing to apple tree owners in Somerset to take part in a research project and Somerset jockey, Bryony Frost, is facing a spell on the sidelines and is unsure when she will return to competition, after suffering a fall on th

Egg producers in Somerset are warning of shortages because of soaring costs. Their trade body, the British Free Range Egg Producers Association, is asking supermarkets to raise prices, otherwise, they'll have to limit production. They say the cost of feeding hens had risen by fifty percent and energy costs by forty percent.

It’s costing more than half-a-million pounds every year for police to enforce the badger cull in Somerset, aimed at slowing the spread of bovine tuberculosis. Figures show it cost more than £540,000 to enforce the cull in Somerset in 2021 and that more than £5.6million has been spent in total since the cull was introduced in 2013. Campaigners have called for an end to the cull, describing it as poor value for money, and ineffective at combating the spread of TB.

Somerset’s Public Health team is again urging older and more vulnerable people to take up the offer of a free, further Covid-19 booster jab. People aged 75 years and older, residents in care homes, and those aged 12 and over with weakened immune systems, are being offered a Spring booster of the coronavirus vaccine. For the latest information on Covid-19 testing, vaccinations, support, and guidance, go to the Somerset County Council website.

Academics from the University of Reading are appealing to apple tree owners in Somerset to take part in a research project. They say samples taken from apple trees show the extent of damage caused by climate change, and the impact it has on pollinators.

Somerset jockey, Bryony Frost, is facing a spell on the sidelines and is unsure when she will return to competition, after suffering a fall on the opening day of the Grand National meeting. The 27-year-old was riding the Paul Nicholls trained ‘Thyme White’ when she fell in the Red Rum Handicap Chase. Scans have shown she fractured vertebrae and injured her shoulder.

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Friday 17th May

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
Thursday 16th May

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.
Wednesday 15th May

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
Tuesday 14th May

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.
Monday 13th May

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.
Friday 10th May

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.
Thursday 9th May

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.
Wednesday 8th May

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.