Somerset is to be run by ONE council with a single county-wide unitary authority being the government’s preferred option for the future of local government in Somerset. Visit Somerset says the so-called "pingdemic" is causing chaos for the tourism sector. The County Council is bidding to win millions of pounds in extra funding to improve bus services in Somerset. Plans have been submitted for an equestrian centre with horse gallops in Crewkerne...and more.
Somerset is to be run by ONE council with a single county-wide unitary authority being the government’s preferred option for the future of local government in Somerset. In a written statement, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, Robert Jenrick, rejected a rival suggestion from the county's four district councils to set up two separate councils - one in charge of the east of the county, the other covering the western half. It’s expected that elections for the new council will be held next year with the new unitary authority coming into being in April 2023.
Visit Somerset says the so-called "pingdemic" is causing chaos for the tourism sector. Holidaymakers are having to cancel their stays due to being pinged by the NHS Test and Trace app - which is also impacting businesses who have staff off work self-isolating. The government says from the 16th of August people who have been fully vaccinated will not have to self-isolate if they're pinged. But John Turner from Visit Somerset thinks that's too late in the holiday season.
The County Council is bidding to win millions of pounds in extra funding to improve bus services in Somerset. The government is making £3 billion available to support a new National Bus Strategy that local councils can apply for a share of. Somerset County Council is now drawing up a blueprint for future bus service provision in the county for submitting to the government.
Plans have been submitted for an equestrian centre with horse gallops in Crewkerne. If approved by South Somerset District Council, the centre would be built at Peckmoor Farm, Henley Cross in Crewkerne.
Chard has been chosen again to host the annual British Disabled Strongman championships. Gary Clarke, who founded the competition in 2015, will stage the event at Holyrood Academy on Sunday, September 5th.
As South Somerset remains under an amber alert for extreme heat this morning, the NHS is advising that elderly people drink extra water and young people get themselves fully protected against sunburn.
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Local News Thursday 5th August
An inquest into the death of Yeovil Town captain, Lee Collins, has been told the footballer took his own life. There’s been a doubling in the number of people in the South West helping with medical research into the Covid pandemic. A decision to remove waste bins at Ham Hill country park near Yeovil has proved to be a real winner. Chard Carnival is set to go ahead this year but not on the grand scale of previous years.
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Local News Wednesday 4th August
A new Solar Farm could be built in Wincanton. Rural crime in Somerset fell by 20 percent according to new figures from NFU Mutual. There’s better news for people in South Somerset waiting for eye operations. Around 500 wristbands have been given out to people with dementia in Somerset. A Crewkerne man has been fined £68 for a speeding offence...and more
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Local News Tuesday 2nd August
People in South Somerset are being warned of scammers asking for money for having a vaccination passport sent. New figures show that more than 80% of 18 to 24-year-olds in Somerset have had their first Covid vaccine. A Yeovil man has been jailed for two years for burglary offences. South Somerset District Council is taking legal action to have traveller families removed from Yeovil Country Park...and more.
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Local News Monday 2nd August
The mass vaccination centre at the Bath and West Showground has moved to the Haynes Motor Museum in Sparkford from today. A councillor in Chard is calling on the Government to abandon the planned cut of £20 in universal credit. A man in a wheelchair needed hospital treatment after colliding with a bus in South Chard...and more.
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Local News Friday 30th July
Somerset Waste Partnership says it will be suspending all green waste collections for six weeks from Monday. Wessex Water is supporting changes to the law to stop polluted water from getting into the local rivers. Police are treating as suspicious a fire that destroyed a mobile home near Castle Cary. South Somerset District Council says it won’t be buying the Oscar Mayer site in Chard...and more.
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Local News Thursday 29th July
The South Western Ambulance Service says they're getting too many 999 calls for issues that aren't real emergencies. Yeovil Town has put on sale its new team shirt for the 2021-22 season. Fire crews have dealt with a bus fire in the village of Maperton. The Leader of Somerset County Council, David Fothergill, has written to the government to acknowledge the decision to collapse Somerset’s five existing councils and replace them with one council...and more.
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Local News Wednesday 28th July
A lorry driver had a lucky escape when his vehicle overturned and hit an embankment on the A37 Dorchester Road in Yeovil. South Somerset District Council says a site has been found for a new primary school in Chard. A South Petherton man has appeared in court to deny murder. Kingsbury Episcopi is the latest South Somerset village to lose its local pub.
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Local News Tuesday 27th July
Avon and Somerset police are launching a summer crackdown, to catch speeding drivers. Great Western Railway, who run trains through Castle Cary, is operating a reduced timetable. There are fears Chard could be hit by further serious flooding. The Government is being asked to intervene to get house building moving in Somerset...and more.
