A half-a-billion pound budget has been agreed upon for the new Somerset Council. Caravan site owners in Somerset say this summer looks like being one of their busiest ever. Call handlers are being recruited to run the NHS 111 service in Somerset. A national clothing brand has opened a new warehouse and printing facility near Ilminster...and more.
A half-a-billion pound budget has been agreed upon for the new Somerset Council that replaces the county and four district councils on the first of April. The budget represents a near 5% rise in council tax - a typical Band D household in Somerset will pay £78 a year more in council tax. Around £17 million of the Council's budget will go towards the £29 million cost of upgrading the Octagon theatre in Yeovil.
Caravan site owners in Somerset say this summer looks like being one of their busiest ever for bookings. A survey of Caravan and Motorhome Club members suggests more people are booking caravan holidays and booking longer stays.
Call handlers are being recruited to work for the new provider of the NHS 111 service in Somerset. The contract to run the 111 helpline in Somerset has been won by HUC who currently operate the 111 service in the East of England. The company is seeking to employ several dozen new call handlers as well as clinicians, to support its service offer in Somerset.
A national clothing brand has opened a new warehouse and printing facility near Ilminster. Jolly Elephant, who claim their business is grounded in sustainability, has relocated to the Ilton Business Park.
Yeovil College Principal Mark Bolton has joined the Board of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership. The role of the LEP is to support ways to improve the region’s economy and create new jobs.
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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